Great minds think alike
by Lola Me
Summary: A strange repetition of events and coincidences puzzles SG1. Then, what would happen if Sam found out about Jack's actions during the timeloop? COMPLETE! Please R&R!
1. Coincidence?

A/N: I'm currently enjoying a well earned break from writing my thesis as my supervisor has gone to New Zealand for a week (it's not that far, I'm in Australia). I've almost finished the next chapter for my other fic "Past Legacy" and I promise for those of you who have read it there is more to come! But anyways, I saw an old season 3 episode for the first time recently and this story idea just came to me. It's way shorter than "Past Legacy", and hopefully not completely bereft of some bits of humour (we'll see if people agree with that).

The time frame is just after "2001" from season 5. Please read and say nice things (or at least not horrible things... please say something!)

* * *

Samantha Carter found herself once again walking through the same corridor towards the locker room as she had for the past three days at precisely this time. As she rounded the final corner, she saw her CO, Jack O'Neill, approaching from the other direction. 

"This is getting ridiculous." She muttered under her breath before addressing her colleague. "On your way to the mess again sir?" She kept her tone light, but knew he could see the slight anxiety in her eyes.

"Hey, Carter!" Jack was just as perplexed by their repeat meetings in this particular corridor. Unlike his 2IC, however, he thought it more fortuitous than suspect. "You betcha – feel like getting some lunch?"

"Yeah, sure…" Sam tried to force the suspicions to the back of her mind and turned about face to head towards the mess. "Colonel-"

"Hmm?" Jack looked at her amused, knowing full well that she would be making a mountain out of a mole hill concerning their coincidental meetings in the corridor.

"Sir, the most direct route from your office to the mess really isn't via this corridor – neither place is even on this floor!" Sam couldn't help it, but she had the nagging feeling that three times in a row meant coincidence could no longer explain their synchronous lunch wanderings via the locker rooms.

"Can't a man take the scenic route once in a while?" Truth be told, Jack had no idea why he had been headed to the locker room. All he knew was that he felt drawn there, only to find Carter heading in the same direction every time.

"Scenic? Sir? How much concrete can you want to see?" Sam looked around her incredulously as they walked shoulder to shoulder towards the mess hall. It was all concrete interspersed with pipes and painted numbers indicating their location – hardly interesting. "It's not as if we've got special windows like in the Ministry of Magic"

"The Ministry of _what_!" Jack raised his eyebrows quizzically. "Don't tell me you know something I don't… I've got higher clearance than you do!"

"In fact, sir, we've got the same clearance level. The only difference is that I actually _understand _everything we're allowed to see." Shesmiled at the lock of mock offense on his face. "Life's not all about the Simpsons," she sighed, realising that her reference was lost on him. "Haven't you read the Harry Potter books?"

"Is _that _what the Simpsons were sending up in that Halloween episode?" He grinned at her. "I beg to differ, Carter – the Simpsons are everything to me."

"Sure, fine, whatever…" Sam mumbled to herself as they walked into the lift. She tried to ignore the nagging feeling within her that they should in fact be going in the other direction, back to the locker rooms. Somehow she just felt as if she had to go there. She had to get kitted up. It was extremely strange – they were on compulsory downtime while Daniel chased up some artifact or another. They wouldn't be going through the stargate for at least a week. Teal'c had even taken the opportunity to visit his son, and wasn't due back for three days. Of course, she was taking the opportunity to attend to some experiments in her lab. With a smile, she remembered why the Colonel was stuck on base and not off fishing at his cabin. Apparently he was six months behind on his reports and General Hammond had barred him from leaving until they were done.

Jack forced himself to press the button on the inside of the lift to head to the mess hall for lunch. He strained against his subconscious desire to leap out of the lift at the last minute before the doors closed. It seemed wrong to be heading away from the locker rooms. He felt as if they _needed _to be kitted up, they _needed _to leave. But to go where? He was frowning, trying to sort out his jumbled mind, when he heard a muffled giggle coming from the other corner of the lift.

"What?" He demanded, annoyed that he had been distracted. It had seemed he was close to finding the answers to the strange coincidences of the previous days.

"Uh, nothing sir." Sam tried to look innocent, without much success. "How's the paperwork going?"

Jack groaned audibly, realising what she had been laughing about. "You have NO idea how boring it is to write these reports!" He stopped her as she tried to interrupt. "I know you have to hand in reports too, but it's different when you're the CO, they have to be more… in depth." He looked at her sideways, always a clear sign one of his trademark quips was about to follow. "I don't do deep."

Sam wasn't fooled by the lighthearted joke that came out of her friend's mouth. She knew as well as he did that mission reports could be much worse than boring. Having to recount in detail the difficult situations they'd been in – the captures, the torture, the pain of seeing those around them die – was almost worse than actually living the situations. She supposed it actually did them some good to write it all down – externalize their feelings to help deal with the stresses of their jobs – but she knew all too well that such arguments were not comforting when you had to write about things like the Tollan's fate at the hand of Tanith and whichever Goa'uld he was serving.

"You know, I don't find them any easier," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I only just finished my report from our last trip to Tollana." She cast her head downwards, thinking of the horrible long-range transmission they had received from the Tollans only a couple of weeks before. By now they were probably all either dead or had been enslaved. "And I haven't even started my report on the Aschens…" she let her voice trail away, cursing herself for having brought the painful memories of the previous couple of months back to the fore.

"Yeah…" Jack also let his voice trail away into the silence that now filled the lift, not knowing what to say. "You know-"

He was interrupted by the doors opening to reveal three boisterous members of SG3 in the middle of a rambunctious conversation about some video game. They all stopped short upon seeing the base's most revered soldiers before them, looking decidedly tense.

"Don't stop on account of us boys," Jack forced a grin as he exited the lift behind Carter, who had seemed to relocate spontaneously from the lift to the corridor. "But I can tell you now that Carter here would kick all your asses at Grand Theft Auto – she's better than Teal'c!" With that comment he moved down the corridor, placing his hand on the small of Sam's back, motioning her to move ahead of him. "So, let's get some food." He said purposefully, deciding to move forward from their tense almost-conversation in the lift.

Entering the mess hall, Sam caught the eye of the young officer behind the buffet of food and gave her a smile. As they approached the array of food, the woman spoke.

"You guys are making a habit of this," she said cheerfully. "Do you have some alarm or something telling you that it's lunchtime? That's three days in a row that you're here at like 1.30 exactly!"

"Hey Jo," Jack began, cutting Sam off before she could speak. "We're just lucky I guess… wanna make sure we see you." He gave her a wink before taking his tray and heading to the table, cocking his head to the side in a motion for Sam to follow.

As they sat down, Sam was scowling at her CO, annoyed at having been cut off. As he thumped down into the seat opposite her, she cleared her throat to attract his attention.

"Sir, don't you think it's a bit weird-"

"Aaah, Carter," the tone of his voice was playfully warning her, "let's eat and then we'll get all paranoid about coincidences, k?" He smiled at her. "I know it's too much to ask just to eat and be merry…"

Sam sighed quietly and looked at the food before her, suddenly not really hungry at all. Her mind wandered as she thought about the locker rooms. She still felt as if she really should be there, and she was starting to suspect that the Colonel felt the same way. Recognising that it would probably be wise to humour Jack if she wanted him to listen to her theories on the coincidences of the past couple of days, she picked up her fork and began eating her food half-heartedly. She had only eaten a couple of bites of the salad on her plate when she noticed Jack hadn't touched his pie and was staring at her.

"Ummm, sir?" She put her fork down and looked at him expectantly.

"Ok Carter, what's your theory?" As much as Jack wanted to enjoy the pie in front of him, the nagging feeling in his mind that he should be elsewhere was too distracting.

"Well, sir, I really don't have one…" she sat back and rubbed her eyes, trying to sort out all the possibilities racing through her brain. "It's not as if we've been doing anything suspicious, but… turning up in the same place, out of both our ways, at the same time is… well… bizarre."

"Maybe it's withdrawal from gate-travel." Jack was only half-joking in this comment, but made sure he was grinning as he said it, lest Sam ridicule the idea. She smiled in response.

"On a psychological level it could be." She paused momentarily seeing the surprised look on Jack's face. "I mean, I doubt we're actually suffering some sort of medical withdrawal, but considering our jobs it's possible we miss the adventure."

"But that doesn't explain…"

"No, it doesn't explain the fact that we both turn up at the locker rooms at the same time every day." She completed his sentence immediately, sensing where he was going.

Before either of them could say anything else, the alarm sounded around the base bringing everyone in the room to attention.

"Unscheduled off-world activation," the voice boomed over the PA system. Rising simultaneously from their seats, both Sam and Jack precipitated to the control room, meeting General Hammond there just as the wormhole engaged.

"Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter," he nodded to both of them before looking back to the Stargate. "Any transmissions sergeant?" he asked. The young man sitting in front of the computer indicated that there had not been a signal. "Close the iris," the General said somewhat automatically.

"Sir," the sergeant began, "we're getting the same strange readings as we did yesterday."

"Low level electromagnetic pulses?" Sam moved closer to the computer screen, brushing past Jack to lean in over the sergeant. The sensor readings had been magnified 20 times in order to see the pulses. "It's exactly the same frequency and amplification as yesterday, sir." She spoke both to General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill. "If I hadn't studied the gate read-out after that activation and found the pulses, we wouldn't have known there was any type of electromagnetic disturbance coming through the gate."

Just as suddenly as the gate had sprung into life, it disengaged and the sergeant placed his hand on the security pad to re-open the iris. General Hammond looked to Sam expectantly, but she had no explanation to offer him.

"Why do these useless disturbances always have to happen while I'm eating?" mused Jack, more to himself than anyone else. He turned to leave the control room and return to the mess hall when a hand on his arm stopped him.

"Sir," Sam's eyes were wide with realization, her grip tight on the Colonel's arm. "You don't think this is connected do you?"

He looked at her sharply, realising what she was saying. "But we've only received these electric readings twice-" He stopped short, casting his thought back to three days ago. His eyes widened as he began to see what Sam was getting out.

"Sergeant," Sam barked in a determined voice. Pull the records from the off-world gate-activation from three days ago – it was about the same time of day as this one."

"Can I ask you both what is going on?" General Hammond looked more baffled than anything else, although there was a distinct glint of concern in his eyes.

"Just let me check this sir," Carter was working furiously at the computer terminal. "If what I suspect is true, I think we should talk about it in the briefing room."

"C'mon Carter you know what you're going to find," Jack was feeling increasingly ill-at-ease about this string of events.

"I think you'd both better fill me in." General Hammond motioned for them to climb the stairs.

TBC

A/N: Things will become a LOT clearer in the next part - I promise! Please review...


	2. Reunification

Disclaimer: I forgot last time. None of it's mine. Wouldn't dream of trying to make a profit (yeah, as if I'm that talented), so please don't sue me!

A/N: I hope this chapter makes things clearer… it was only intended as a half chapter but I got impatient and wanted to post it now! More explanation at the end! Please R&R

* * *

Great minds think alike

Chapter 2: Reunification.

"So let me get this straight," General Hammond looked from one person to the other as he tried to figure out whether his best people had perhaps gone slightly insane. "You're saying that a specific sequence of events has repeated itself three days in a row, starting with your simultaneous appearance outside the locker rooms at 1.20pm?"

"I know it sounds crazy sir-" both Jack and Sam began at the same time, before their commanding officer put his hand in the air to stop them both.

"I'm not doubting that there has been a string of coincidences, but I remain to be convinced that there's any great significance. Apart maybe from the fact that you two have been spending too much time together…" he added with a smile. He'd noticed how all four members of SG1 had become uniquely tuned in to each other. Even Teal'c had seemed to acquire some of Jack's unique humour of late.

Sam sat back in her chair, frustrated, and looked beside her to see a similar look of consternation on Jack's face. If she had simply run into the Colonel at different locations, or different times, she would probably agree with General Hammond. It was possible that the mysterious gate activations were unconnected… but then the fact that both she and Jack had found themselves _compelled_ to be at the same place, at the same time was too significant to ignore.

"Sir," she began again, wearily, "I'd be inclined to agree with you… but you're forgetting that both Colonel O'Neill and myself were somehow _drawn_ to the same place at the same time. I don't know how to explain it…"

"I do." Jack interjected, snapping the attention of the other people in the room. "It's like when I had that ancient thingy downloaded into my head. I find myself doing stuff without knowing why.

"Do you think this could be some kind of latent effect, Colonel?" General Hammond realized the improbability of this before the words had fully left his mouth.

"No sir," he responded dejectedly, "Carter never had all that stuff in her head – it's just a good way to describe it."

The three of them sat back in their chairs, thoroughly at a loss to explain the events of the previous days, let alone determine a course of action to be taken. The all-too familiar sounds of the base alert interrupted their thoughts as the PA system announced – for the second time in only 20 minutes – the unscheduled off-world activation of the gate.

"This _didn't _happen yesterday, right?" Jack muttered to Sam as they followed the general into the control room. Seeing her shake her head slightly he was inwardly relieved.

"Receiving transmission sir! It's Teal'c?" the sergeant looked to the General questioningly. "He's not due back for another three days, right?"

"Theoretically…" Jack snapped over his shoulder as he headed down to the gate-room, followed closely by Sam and the General.

Upon arriving in the gate-room, they saw Teal'c step through the wormhole and onto the ramp, looking somewhat perplexed.

"Teal'c, buddy…" Jack began, before seeing the Jaffa's face. "Is that concern?" He looked to Sam for confirmation, who looked just as shocked as he felt.

"Indeed O'Neill I harbour a most pressing concern." He turned to General Hammond before continuing. "I realize I have returned ahead of schedule General. I assure there is nothing amiss, however I felt the odd need to return amongst the Tau'ri to the SGC."

"Me too." A voice appeared in the doorway. The three members of SG1 and the General turned sharply to see Daniel Jackson standing in the doorway, looking as if he had just got off an extremely lengthy and uncomfortable flight.

"Dr Jackson!" barked the General, who was becoming quite annoyed at the odd occurrences that always seemed to surround SG1's every move. "Would someone like to tell me what in God's name is going on here?"

Seeing the blank expression on Daniel's face, General Hammond surveyed the four people in front of him with a resigned sigh. "I want you all to go to the infirmary immediately. Then we'll convene in the briefing room." He saw Jack start to protest but simply spoke louder. "There will be no discussion on this. Dismissed!"

* * *

Almost an hour later, SG1 were finally traipsing down the halls towards the briefing room.

"D'you ever think how much money they waste giving us medical checks?" Jack wasn't speaking to anyone in particular as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm where the Doc had inflicted yet another form of medical torture on him. "I mean really, there are so many people in need of medical help who can't get it, and I think I spend more time getting cat scans than I do at home!"

"Sir, you know what I'm going to say to that right?" Carter wasn't up for the playful banter this time, she was becoming increasingly concerned with what Teal'c and Daniel had relayed to her while in the infirmary.

"Yeah, yeah…" he mumbled, before giving her a playful nudge. "Can't blame a man for trying, right?" He was rewarded for that last comment with a smile as they entered the briefing room and took their normal positions around the table.

Sam leapt straight into the discussion before General Hammond was even fully seated in his chair. "Sir, before you say anything, I think I know what's going on…" She paused as she saw their attention focused squarely on her. She drew a deep breath before pronouncing the one word she knew could elicit a multitude of reactions.

"Urgo."

"Oh no…"

"Of course!"

Jack and Daniel's respective reactions were pretty much what she had expected. Looking to Teal'c she saw that although his expression had not changed, the large Jaffa seemed to have slumped slightly into the chair.

"Impossible Major!" General Hammond shook his head, willing it not to be so. "Dr Frasier gave you all the all-clear when you returned from that mission, and none of you have seen Urgo since, right?"

"That is true, Major Carter. How is it that you came to this conclusion?" Teal'c tilted his head to one side as he looked towards her.

"Just hear me out, ok?" Sam gathered her thoughts before beginning. "When Urgo was 'here', for lack of a better expression, we all found our selves going places simultaneously without knowing why, right? When we all went to the mess hall to eat desserts, for example." She looked to Jack with a small smile, remembering how the table had been _covered_ with every sweet dish imaginable. "This time, the Colonel and myself were drawn to the same place for three days running-"

"And Teal'c and Daniel?" General Hammond motioned to them, his eyebrows raised.

"I'm getting to that sir," Sam continued. "Both Teal'c and Daniel said they felt the _need_ to return to the SGC, and not for any specific reason. I'm guessing that had they been here, they would have found themselves in the same corridor as Colonel O'Neill and I."

"So what about the gate?" Jack touched Sam's hand as he said this, careful to show his support for her theory. "How does that figure?"

"Well," Sam considered the possibilities once more before deciding on the most likely. "When we had Urgo 'with us', the microprocessors that interfaced with our brain tissue to form the illusion that he was there were emitting very low level electromagnetic frequencies." She continued before anyone could interrupt. "The signal coming through the gate was of a similar amplification and frequency, which would suggest that it is Urgo's creator who is opening the gate. It's possible that they are transmitting some kind of instructions to us from beyond the gate, hence our oddly synchronous activities"

"But Janet gave us all a clean bill of health," Daniel began, becoming more confused as the minutes passed. "She said the chips were gone… and there was no more electromagnetic field-"

"I know Daniel," Sam laid her hands flat on the table as if to express her humility. "I can't give you an explanation for everything, but this is what seems to make the most sense given the facts. We have no memory of either of our trips to Urgo's planet. Maybe the second time his creator merely hid the microprocessors somewhere else… maybe he just stifled Urgo's presence… we can't know for sure.

"Hold up a second Carter," Jack's mind was racing as he tried to grasp her logic. "The gate activating here doesn't explain how Teal'c felt the same _necessity_ as Daniel to return to the SGC-"

"On the contrary O'Neill," Teal'c balanced voice filled the room. "The stargate has been inexplicably activating for three days now before deactivating itself following several minutes where nothing came through the portal at my location as well."

General Hammond motioned for them all to be quiet as he considered the interesting situation they found themselves in.

"Alright SG1. It's clear that something is amiss." He looked apologetically to Sam before continuing. "I'm ordering you confined to the base until further notice while Dr Frasier reviews your test results to search for these microprocessors." He looked Jack directly in the eyes before continuing. "Under no circumstances are you to leave the base or travel through the stargate – is that understood?"

"But General-" Jack continued quickly before he could be cut off. "I'm not saying I wanna go through the gate, I'm just pointing out that there's no point confining us here if Daniel felt compelled to return all the way from the other side of the world!"

"Be that as it may, Colonel," General Hammond persisted, "I would prefer to have you all close and safe considering that you may be under the influence of alien technology."

Before any of them could respond, the General rose from his seat and exited from the room without looking back.

"The old 'under the influence of alien technology excuse'," Jack grumbled to no-one in particular before standing up. "You coming Carter? I believe we were in the middle of lunch a couple of hours ago."

"Uh actually sir," Sam was laughing quietly at his alien technology comment. "I really think I should examine those readings that came through the gate – see if they really are like the ones linked to Urgo."

"I'm up for a trip to the mess hall, Jack," Daniel piped up. "I'm starving."

"I too will accompany you O'Neill." Teal'c stood at the same time as the others and followed Jack and Daniel out of the room.

TBC

A/N: I meant to have this and the next chapter for you today… but I was watching Live8 last night and got somewhat distracted. Sorry! I've only had about 2 hours sleep! (Thanks to the cruel joke that is time zones, the live8 broadcast was like from 10pm to 7am Australian time… no sleep for me!).

I'll update soon – promise!


	3. Microespionnage

A/N: So we're nearly off-world! Yay! I really hope no-one has had this idea before! I'm always so afraid on this site that whatever I come up with will have already been done! Please read and review!

* * *

Sam was slumped on her desk, both elbows on the table, her palms the only barrier between her head and the cool, hard surface of the bench in front of her. Looking at the computer screen her vision blurred, reminding her that she probably needed sleep – or at least some…

"Coffee?"

Sam snapped her head up to see her CO standing in the doorway, holding two steaming hot mugs. With a smile of gratitude she held her hand out.

"You're a life-saver sir. I was starting to actually contemplate sleep." She smiled at him, knowing he would find that remark amusing.

"Sleep? You?" Jack retorted gently. "I thought that was one of those activities you only did when ordered!" He looked at his watch briefly. "Besides, it's only 4pm."

Jack sat on a stool across the table from where Sam was ensconced in front of her technology. He looked at her carefully. She looked tired. If he were a betting man, he'd say this latest conundrum wasn't the reason she was so spent. Upon thinking about it, she'd seemed somewhat under the weather for a couple of weeks now.

"How's it going?" he asked quietly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that the electromagnetic pulses through the gate are some sort of transmission." Sam ruffled her hair absentmindedly. "They're nearly identical in form to the energy that emanated from our 'urgo chips', so it would seem that the signal is trying to communicate with something that-"

"Carter, stop." He interrupted her. "That's not what I meant."

"Sir?" she looked at him expectantly.

"I meant," he paused, collecting his thoughts. "How are you going generally? You seem pretty out of it at the moment – inexplicable compulsions to meet me in a certain corridor at the same time every day notwithstanding." He gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

"I'm fine sir," she responded after a marked pause. "It's just been a busy couple of months. I guess we haven't had any leave in a while, eh?" She looked at him hopefully. Perhaps he wouldn't pry.

Jack gritted his teeth. He didn't even know why he was getting into this. All he knew was that her few words in the lift earlier that day had made him realize how selfish he'd been. He found it hard to write his reports because the experience of reliving some events was too painful. That pain was probably minimal compared to what Carter had felt writing about Narim's fate on Tollana.

"You know Carter, I haven't even started writing my report on the Tollans." He saw her breath hitch in her throat as he mentioned the ill-fated friendly culture. "I don't know how. How do I go through what happened? At every turn I want to have done something differently."

"Sir you shouldn't-"

"-waste my time at imagining various 'what if's'?" he completed her thought. "I know, but I can't help it."

Sam saw the pain in his deep brown eyes as he said this and understood immediately that he was just as tired as she, just as worn out by onslaught of adversity that had been thrown at them.

"You did everything in your power, sir." She paused briefly, "_We_ did everything in our power." Her voice was now barely a whisper. "Sometimes our best just isn't good enough."

"Yeah. Sucks eh?" He smiled at her weakly.

They sat like that, opposite each other, steaming coffee's untouched in their hands for some time. Neither feeling the need to speak. It was in this state of contemplation that Janet, Teal'c and Daniel found them twenty minutes later.

"Jack, Sam, we think we know what's going-" Daniel stopped as he hurtled into the room when he saw the uncharacteristic _stillness_ that engulfed the small space. "-on… is something wrong?" He looked from Sam to Jack, and back to Sam again. "Sam?"

"No, everything's fine Daniel." She awoke from her reverie finally, realizing that the room was now full of people. "We're just tired. What's up?"

"First things first," Janet took control of the room with her most commanding tone of voice. "You two haven't been seeing Urgo since you went back to the planet he came from, right?"

Both Jack and Sam indicated they hadn't.

"So two years and nothing?" she let out a deep breath and lay a series of photographic images on the bench. "Remember how the first time the microprocessor was located at the exact same spot in your brains? Of course we checked there the instant you arrived back and found they were no longer there." She indicated with a pen the spot on the scans where the blip should have appeared. "In light of the recent… coincidences… you've experienced and the unexplained gate activations, I went over your most recent scans with a fine tooth comb." This time Janet lay all four scans out next to each other and circled a spot on each of them, in different places. "I've been disregarding these for so long because the resolution of the scan isn't good enough to really distinguish between them and faults in the printing technology. But I enlarged all the inconsistencies I could find on your scans this afternoon, and found these." Janet took four magnified images out of the folder tucked under her arm, each revealing the presence of a microprocessor identical to that which had been implanted when Urgo was 'with' them."

Sam looked carefully at each scan using the large microscope in front of her before raising her head to look across the bench at Jack. He merely raised his eyebrows at her, asking a bunch of silent questions.

"Essentially sir, when whoever we found on Urgo's planet took him out of our brains, he put new microprocessors in."

"Sneaky bugger." Jack growled, incensed that his mind had been violated in such a way. "Why?"

"Is it not obvious, O'Neill?" Teal'c spoke calmly from the doorway. "These devices were inserted to record our activities in some way. Much like Daniel Jackson describes the tagging of lower-species animals on your world."

Jack looked from the tall Jaffa to the others in the room, looking for confirmation. "So Urgo is actually here?"

"No sir, I don't think so." Carter felt her mind working quickly, piecing the puzzle together as she spoke. "Remember when we spoke to whoever it was that created Urgo he said the presence was an 'error', not meant to be? Maybe the microprocessors now inside us are performing their job as they were designed to do – without being detected."

"So that's probably why we've been meeting outside the locker room for the past couple of days?" Jack still didn't see why a microprocessor would cause such a banal simultaneous action. "What's this got to do with the gate activation?"

"Well think about it Jack." Daniel was leaning against the wall behind where Sam was seated. "If you're going to tag an animal, you want to check on it every now and then – collect the information."

"So if the electric thingy coming through the gate is a transmission like Carter thinks," he paused to give her a small nod, proving that he _had _been listening earlier, "then whoever put these things in our heads wants to collect the data?"

"Exactly!" Daniel's voice was rising in intonation, showing the increasing excitement. "I think the reason me and Teal'c felt the need to come back – and the reason you and Sam keep finding yourself on the way to the locker rooms – is because we're being _recalled_ somehow."

"So what do we do?" Jack looked to Carter briefly before directing his eyes back to Daniel, fully aware of what the archaeologist was about to say.

"Well, why not go back? We've been there twice and come back in one piece – albeit with some moderate memory loss." He conceded the last point in response to sounds of objection from both Sam and Jack. "Maybe this time we can convince them to let us retain our memories?"

Jack looked at Daniel skeptically. Going into a situation without the appropriate intel was unacceptable. The blatant _lack_ of intelligence regarding this idea of Daniel's seemed too ridiculous for words.

"Sir, I don't think we really have a choice in the matter." Sam got up from her seat, collecting her jacket from the back of the chair and preparing to leave the room. "The urge to get kitted up has been getting progressively stronger over the past three days. I think that if we don't act now and depart as prepared as we can be, we'll just end up going anyway somehow."

Jack looked to the ceiling in a silent prayer for a normal life before wrenching his tired body of the stool to follow Carter – who he presumed was headed to talk to General Hammond.

"Let's get this show on the road then." He motioned for everyone in the room to follow Sam, and the five of them traipsed down the corridor towards the General's office.

* * *

If General Hammond was surprised by the sudden appearance of his flagship team, accompanied by Doctor Frasier, in his office with determined expressions on their faces, he did a good job hiding it. His gaze surveyed the five of them briefly, noting particularly how excited Sam and Daniel seemed, before he brusquely dropped his pen onto the desk in front of him.

"I take it you've got something to report, Colonel?" Although he spoke to Jack, he looked at Sam, who was the most likely to have a coherent answer to his question.

"Sir," Sam's voice was uncharacteristic of her usual conciliatory, even educational, manner – instead it was strong, forceful. "We have reason to believe that the gate activations have been in an attempt to lure SG1 back to the planet Urgo originated from." She looked to Jack quickly for support before continuing. "We're requesting permission to return to the planet sir."

General Hammond couldn't stifle the surprised jolt he felt at this request. "Why on earth would you do that, if something appears to be luring you there?" This time the steeled character of his eyes dictated that Jack answer the question.

"Apparently we'll just end up there anyway sir." Jack was slouching slightly against the wall as he spoke, his arms crossed on his chest. He raised his hands in a demonstration of the helplessness he felt. "The Doc has found more of those 'Urgo chips' in our heads and Carter here thinks it would be best just to go back to the planet well-prepared rather than eventually give in to temptation." He looked coyly in the direction of his 2IC. "Of course, we also thought it preferable that we go there following your orders – not in direct contravention of them."

"General," Daniel interjected at this point. "Not one of us was harmed two years ago when we first encountered whatever it was at this planet." He looked uncertainly at Jack, unsure if he was helping or hindering their cause. "We think whoever they are, they're just curious and want to learn about our culture. Perhaps we can learn about theirs this time? Perhaps our memories won't be erased?"

"Teal'c?" General Hammond addressed his attention to the Jaffa, who had remained framed by the doorway.

"I believe that we have very little choice in the matter, General Hammond. The urges to act contrary to our conscious thoughts have been growing in intensity. It is highly likely that we will in fact be unable to resist them in the future."

"And what if this is some sort of Goa'uld ploy?" Hammond voiced the thought that no member of SG1 had dared entertain.

"It is unlikely, General, that a Goa'uld would undertake such a slow-moving plan for action." Teal'c pretended not to notice the relief evident in the rest of SG1's body language. "However, I remain convinced that for better or worse, we will soon have no choice in the matter. It would be preferable to depart fully armed and in control of our actions."

General Hammond sat back in his chair, exasperated. It seemed as if they were all decided on the issue.

"Doctor Frasier, couldn't we try to disable the microprocessors or somehow stifle these '_urges_'?"

"I don't think that would work sir," Janet fished the team's medical files from two years ago out of the folder she carried with her. "If you'll remember correctly, the EMP field Sam created to disable Urgo wasn't permanent. And surgery is of course out of the question – the technology is far too advanced."

"It appears as if we have no choice then." General Hammond picked his pen up again, poised to continue with the paperwork in front of him that never seemed to end. "SG1, you have a go. You'll be departing tomorrow at 1100 hours, dismissed."

"Thank you sir." All four team-members spoke at the same time, before turning to leave.

TBC

A/N: Ok, so the Sam/Jack bits won't be coming until probably chapter 5… but please keep reading! I'm getting more and more into this as I go!


	4. Revelation

A/N: Ok, we're off to see the wizard! Hope you like…

* * *

"Chevron 6 encoded!" the sergeant's voice boomed over the PA system as SG1 stood in the gate room watching the great spinning wheel.

"Shouldn't we at least try to communicate via the radio before going back to this planet?" Daniel was standing slightly behind the other three, hesitant to throw himself into such an unknown situation.

"Can it Daniel," Jack snapped quite harshly. "I've had enough of these aliens thinking they can just experiment on us willy-nilly! We're going – and we're going to get some answers."

"But if they've got the technology to-"

"Daniel!" the colonel turned to face him, his expression warning the archaeologist not to push it. "Hammond has approved it – we're going. Got it?"

"Ok… ok…" Daniel shrugged his shoulders in defeat. At least they might this time actually learn something about the people who made Urgo. Maybe they'd even be able to remember what they learned this time. If they didn't, he hoped the covert voice recording devices and hidden cameras incorporated into their BDUs would provide some answers.

"Chevron 7 locked! Wormhole engaged!" The team looked behind them to the control room to salute General Hammond.

"Good luck SG1," General Hammond pronounced the words he always hoped wouldn't be the last he addressed to his friends and colleagues.

"Thank you sir," Jack motioned for his team to move forward. "Let's move out – off to see the wizard."

"Major Carter," Teal'c addressed Sam as they walked up the ramp. "Exactly what is the meaning of the term 'willy-ni'-" The rest of his sentence was cut of as they both passed through the event horizon.

"-illy?" Teal'c stopped to look around him as they arrived in a cavernous room dominated by eerily-blue décor. Before Sam could respond – before any of them could make the smallest gest – a white flash of light engulfed them.

* * *

When Jack had had enough time to gather his thoughts, he found to his consternation that – once again – they'd been disarmed. Not only that, everything except their clothes seemed to have disappeared. He looked around him and found to his horror he was suspended in some kind of vertical tube. He tried moving his limbs, but discovered that although there appeared to be no restraints holding him still, he was unable to move – he was paralysed from the neck down, with his feet not even touching the ground. Looking further afield, he saw the rest of his team were in their own personal tubes, arranged in a semi-circle around some kind of control panel in the centre of the room. Sam and Daniel were twisting their necks in every which way trying to make sense of this, while Teal'c remained stoic in his tube, apparently accepting their predicament as par for the course.

"Why is it these advanced races always need to take our weapons?" He sighed, exasperated. "If they're that great then they've got nothing to fear from us do they?"

"Well sir," Sam caught Jack's eye as she struggled to comprehend their situation, but ignored his glib comment. "At least it appears we're not in any kind of Goa'uld lab. This doesn't ring a bell at all."

"I concur O'Neill," Teal'c carefully surveyed the architecture of the room. "This is unlike anything I have seen or heard about."

Daniel bent his head as far forward as he could to see if any of the covert equipment had remained in their transfer. "Well, unless whoever's in charge here lets us keep our memories, we'll all be clueless when we arrive back at the SGC – again. All our equipment's gone."

"That's supposing we return, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said gravely.

"You're such a ray of sunshine T." Jack quipped before looking to Sam. "Any theories?"

Sam shook her head. "We'll just have to wait and see, sir. Play it by ear."

At that moment, a man bearing an uncanny resemblance to Urgo entered the room wearing what appeared to be an ensemble of robes made out of a shiny-metallic material.

"Aw shoot…" Jack muttered, before addressing the man with obvious false enthusiasm. "Urgo! Buddy! How goes it?"

"I am not the one called Urgo." The main snapped impatiently. "He is here, but in my mind so that only I may see him." He suddenly turned to his left with an exasperated expression on his face. "Yes I know… do not try my patience or I will de-activate you!"

"Deactivate?" Sam was alarmed. "You're not going to kill him are you?"

"Of course not Major Carter." He replied with annoyance. "Deactivation merely makes Urgo imperceptible to me for a temporary period of time. It was… necessary… to devise this feature of the implant in order to preserve my sanity."

Jack stifled a snort of amusement and looked to Daniel, who was also smiling.

"Ahem.." Daniel didn't know where to start communicating with this man. It was clear that he had full control of their fate. "Sir, we are peaceful-"

"Travellers in search of friends with which you hope to share your knowledge and experiences." The man spoke in monotone, as if reciting a mantra. "I know, you've already told me that twice. Do you not get sick of saying it?"

Sam looked to Jack and smiled at the look of amusement on his face. He'd been on at Daniel for years to liven up the 'welcome speech' he usually gave each time they met a new civilisation.

"Sir," she began carefully, "We have come here today because it appears the microprocessors we assume you implanted into our brains have started altering our actions." She gave a warning look to Jack, who seemed ready to interject with some sort of insolent remark. "With respect, we would be grateful if you could safely remove these devices and let us return to our own planet."

"Of course you have felt the compulsion to return to me," the man started fiddling with the control panel in the room as he spoke. "It has been two complete cycles of your planet around its star." He looked at Sam as if she was ignorant. "As the prime zoological expert among my people, I am charged with analysing the data we have been receiving from the specimens during this time."

"Um, excuse me? Specimens?" Jack's eyebrows were raised, since he couldn't move his arms. "Who exactly are you?"

"And can I ask how you have been receiving data for the past two years?" Sam added, poised to ask many more questions but settling for the basics for the time being.

The man stopped his actions briefly and looked at all four of them. "I had forgotten how many tiresome questions you are apt to ask. I am Togar, and if you must know, the technology within your minds is capable of transmitting back to me each time you travel through the wormhole." He glared at Sam and Daniel as they opened their mouths to ask more questions. "That is enough from you. You are here to answer my questions – I am not at liberty to reveal anything more of myself or my people to you. I will start with you two." He motioned to Sam and Jack, who looked to each other, not understanding exactly what he was going to do.

With another flash of light, they found themselves now sitting in identical chairs not unlike dentists' chairs in a smaller room. Again, they were not restrained, but still unable to move below their necks. Before either of them had a chance to speak, the wall in front of them separated briefly to allow Togar to enter the room. Through the opening they could see Daniel and Teal'c still in the capsules in the larger chamber, but now unconscious.

"What have you done-"

"Your friends are merely in stasis." Togar snapped before Sam could finish her sentence. "I wish to interrogate you both first as there is an interesting anomaly with your data. You," he motioned to Jack, "and the one that carries a parasite in his body possess one sixth extra data than the other two. Why is that?"

"Ah, that." Jack was suddenly somewhat worried about what Togar knew about him exactly. "There was an issue of a time-loop that only me and Teal'c experienced to the fullest. Carter and Daniel didn't experience the same day repeatedly for about three months like us."

"I see." Togar manipulated a control panel on the wall to the left of him. "That would explain why she does not possess the memory." He stopped momentarily, apparently contemplating something or another.

"Um, I'm sorry? What memory?" Sam looked from Togar to Jack, wondering what the hell was going on.

"I do not understand why you wouldn't share this experience with her." Togar ignored Sam. "Especially considering your mutual admissions during the test administered by those you call the…" he consulted the panel once more, "…Tok'ra."

Sam's breath caught in her throat as she started to realise what Togar may be referring to. She looked to the man sitting next to her, wide-eyed. "Colonel?" He voice was barely above a whisper, and was wavering with rising indignation.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Jack closed his eyes and leant his head back, willing himself to wake up from this bad dream. He opened them only to see both Togar and Sam waiting for some kind of response. He looked from the first – who seemed politely curious – to the second, who's expression was unreadable at best, if not volatile. "Umm… well…" his throat was suddenly dry and he wished again that somehow he could awake from this nightmare. Never in his dreams had he imagined Sam finding out about his actions during the time-loop – otherwise he never would have done it. She was going to kill him, he realised with a groan. For the first time it occurred to him that their inability to move was probably a good thing. "See Carter, here's the thing…" he stopped, looking her directly in the eyes, unable to complete the thought.

"This." Togar lost patience and pushed a sequence of pads on the panel. A screen rose out of the floor to show the Colonel first handing his resignation to General Hammond before swooping on Sam in a passionate embrace.

"Yeah, that." Jack couldn't think of anything to say. Whatever he said would be wrong and he knew it. If he claimed it wasn't what it seemed, he would be lying and probably hurt her feelings. If he admitted what it really was… he couldn't begin to fathom the consequences. What if she was angry? What if she didn't feel that way about him? He searched her eyes, imploring her to react in some way.

"You KISSED me?" Sam's mouth was gaping wide open as she digested the images before her, now playing on an excruciating loop. She tried to ignore Togar, who appeared to be frantically taking notes. "What gave you the right! Why didn't you tell me! Why…. That's not FAIR!" The last words exited her mouth before she could stop them and boomed across the room. She remembered that Daniel and Teal'c were only a matter of metres away in the other room and was silently thankful that they were unconscious, or they definitely would have heard her rant.

Jack's head snapped up sharply at those last words. He had expected her to be angry but her last comment hurt him more than anything else. It was true. He shouldn't have taken advantage of the situation like that. It was entirely unfair to experiment with the way things were without thought for the repercussions – even if he thought there wouldn't be any at the time.

"Carter I'm really sorry," his voice broke slightly as he spoke upon seeing tears glisten in her eyes. "I never should have… I realise it's a complete violation…"

"Silence!" Togar spoke firmly, causing Sam and O'Neill to jump slightly – well, causing their heads to jolt anyway. "Major Carter, why is it unfair?" He spoke calmly, as if this were a perfectly routine line of questioning, part of an innocuous zoological or anthropological study.

Sam closed her eyes and let her head drop slightly forward. She'd had enough. The stresses of the past couple of months were too much, and to learn that Jack had done the one thing she'd been wanting to do for so long was unbearable.

"Because…" she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping perhaps that she was in a dream and that the Colonel wouldn't hear the words she had to say, for her own sake. "Because he got to do what I would have done – what I would _do_,given the chance."

TBC

A/N : I can't believe I've actually done a version of a clip-show – the very type of episode that I hate ! Well I guess these clips are at least good ones… hehe. There won't be too many of them – I promise! Please R&R!


	5. Aftermath

_A/N: Reviews! I got reviews! I'm so stoked (that means excited for all you non-Aussies)._

_So anyways, thanks to jiltf for the compliment! Getting the characters' voices right is always my HUGE worry. I find Sam the easiest to do (maybe it helps that I'm female, studied physics until my second year in college, ended up with a double degree with four majors – pharmacology, biochemistry, french and history… not that I'm half proud of myself!), but it's never easy._

_Also, I probably know just as much as you do (if not less) about the floods in Queensland and northern New South Wales – I live like TWO THOUSAND MILES south of there in Melbourne!_

_Here are the immediate reactions… hope you like!_

* * *

Sam refused herself the right to open her eyes. She wished she could just wake up and find herself back at the SGC… at home… anywhere but stuck on this stupid mock-dentist's chair with a repeating playback of her and Jack kissing – a kiss she couldn't even remember – in front of her. She didn't trust herself to try and speak. Despite the admission she had just made, she felt the indignation rising within her: her eyes were becoming moist and she felt her muscles straining in her neck and mouth as she clenched her teeth together. Had she been capable of moving her limbs, she knew her fingernails would have been digging painful holes in the palms of her hands. She did NOT want to deal with the Colonel. Most of all, if she had to talk about this, she was certainly NOT going to do it with some emotionally bereft, callous alien in the room taking notes as if they were both test subjects.  
In what seemed like a far-away, echoing voice, she heard Togar clear his throat.

"This causes you emotional pain." He ticked a box on the screen that appeared in the wall-panel, as if this piece of data was of particular interest.

"Dammit Togar stop this!" Jack's eyes had not wavered from Sam's face. "We're not lab rats here for your amusement!"

"On the contrary Colonel," Togar's voice was indifferent, as he made another notation on his screen. "You are here merely to enhance my understanding of emotional exchanges between peoples of different cultures."

"Well we're not going to participate!" Jack roared, wincing as he saw that Sam still had not exited from her self-imposed exile from the situation. He softened his voice to address her for the first time since the revelation, hoping against hope that he could choose the right words – or at least not the blatantly wrong ones. "Carter, I-" he stopped, seeing her head flinch slightly away from the sound of his voice. "Sam, I'm really sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I'm sorry I took advantage of the situation like that. I'll explain anything you want when we get back… I'm just really sorry…"

Sam fought to keep control of her raging emotions as the Colonel's words filtered through the tough barrier she had constructed around her psyche. She heard him apologise, again and again. But the last words he said annoyed her – he asked if she was ok, as if she were too fragile to deal with the situation, as if she couldn't handle him/it.

"Sir," her voice was strained, caught in her throat, and wavered slightly in a vain attempt to stop herself from exploding at the world around her. "I'm fine. It's fine. Let's just get out of here."

"I don't think you fully comprehend the situation," Togar spoke calmly, but with a certain malevolence. "I cannot analyse the data you have provided me with without the appropriate knowledge."

"I don't BELIEVE this!" Sam finally let go of the anger that had been growing inside her. She opened her eyes, finally, to reveal a murderous glare that would put even the worst of the Goa'ulds to shame. "If you've got the _'data'_ from these stupid microprocessors then you know what we're capable of, you know what we've achieved in the past two years! We're NOT some stupid passive primitive race ready to answer to your every whim and desire! We're NOT here to help you with your… your… _study_!" she spat the word out as if it sickened her. "You have VIOLATED our thoughts and actions – your actions are no different to RAPE! We DEMAND that you get these things OUT of our heads and return us to our planet!"

Togar looked at the two humans seated only metres away from him with exasperation. How such a promising race could be so subordinate to their unpredictable emotions was beyond him. His people thought they had lost something from their culture in their inability to feel as these humans did. When SG1 first came through the gate, he had been stunned to see the levels of emotion emanating from all of them, even the Jaffa. The opportunity could not be missed. The best ancient civilisation scholars on his planet had, at best, a tenuous comprehension of the passionate tendencies of their ancestors. SG1 provided them with a unique opportunity to understand their own past. Looking at the wreck's now slumped in the chairs, however, he was starting to doubt whether his wondrous people could ever have been so _irrational_.

"You may as well just let us go." Jack spoke softly, using all his willpower to keep his voice calm. "As you can see, we don't take kindly to this kind of treatment." He chanced a glance at Sam, who was now slumped in defeat, although her eyes were still dangerously pointed at Togar. He hoped she didn't direct them at him.

Togar looked at the both of them and realised a change in tactic was necessary. "Very well," he snapped impatiently, already manipulating the control panel at his side with his next move. The video screen replaying Sam and Jack's kiss finally retracted into the floor. "I will question your friends. If they too have nothing to say that can help me I will return you to your world and take the tags out of your minds." He stopped suddenly and with an annoyed click of the tongue looked to the empty space next to him. "Oh it's _you _again…. Yes I know… Hmmm… you may be right…"

"Urgo!" Jack hissed, "Tell this _shrub_ to let us go!"

"Silence!" Togar slid his hand over a depression in the wall and Jack found an invisible gag preventing him from speaking. "Urgo has persuaded me to accommodate you both in a more… agreeable… environment while I interrogate your friends. You should be grateful for that much."

With those words Togar calmly manipulated a series of touch-points on the wall and with a flash of light Sam and Jack disappeared from the chairs in front of him.

* * *

Jack found himself unceremoniously dumped on a bed with a soft thump. He growled with annoyance at all the times alien beings just felt they could transport him here or there without thought, let alone fair warning. Looking around him he was startled to see that the room they were in was an identical replica of the guest quarters back at the SGC. He had landed on the double-bed just inside where the door should have been – in this case there was no apparent way out of the room – while he saw Sam had been deposited on the couch just a few feet away, and was now looking around her with the same expression of disbelief as him. He caught her eye briefly but quickly looked away, not sure of how she felt. The last thing he wanted to do was make matters worse. With a resigned sigh, he lay back onto the bed with his arm flopped over his face, exhausted and entirely sick of the whole situation. 

"Sir?" Sam spoke quietly, but without the slightest waver in her voice. Jack lifted his arm from his head and raised his neck to look at her. She was sitting sideways on the couch leaning over the back of it too talk to him.

"Sir you don't have to explain or apologise." Sam suddenly wasn't sure of what she was going to say. All she knew that the awkwardness between them couldn't continue. "I… it was just a shock, that's all. I'm sure you did much crazier things during the time you and Teal'c were 'looping' – I'm surprised you didn't lose your mind." She tried for a small smile, but only managed to form a straight line with her lips. "For all I know you could have jumped Daniel, or General Hammond, in the next loop."

"Well…" Jack said dryly, "You know how attracted I am to Daniel…" He pushed himself up with his elbows before sitting cross-legged on the bed with his arms loosely resting on his knees. "You're know Carter, you're not a very good liar."

"Sir?" Sam tried her best to display complete nonchalance.

"Ok, look…" Jack bit his tongue, wondering if the next few words to come from his mouth would forever ruin the easy relationship he shared with Sam. "I just couldn't let the opportunity go by." He held up his hand, imploring her to let him finish. His eyes were averted from her gaze, fixed on a spot on the wall to his left. "God… I'd been wanting to kiss you for so long… SO long." He ran a hand through his hair. "I can understand if you feel differently…" he still couldn't look at her. "I… I thought that if I kissed you once – just _once _– then I'd be able to move on." He chanced a look at her, only to see that Sam was intently studying her hands.

"Did it work?" Sam's voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes still directed towards her hands, as she fiddled with her fingernails. When Jack didn't respond immediately she looked up slowly to see a pained expression on his face.

"Not really." He answered simply, conscious of how exposed this conversation was leaving him. He didn't care anymore – if his relationship with Sam was going to be ruined, she may as well know the truth.

"Ok." Sam sank back into the couch with her head on the arm rest and looked absently at the ceiling above, deep in thought.

Jack squeezed his eyes tightly and willed himself to just let it go. 'Ok'! What did _that _mean? He lay back down on the bed behind him and clamped one of the pillows down over his face with his arms, wishing he could disappear.

* * *

"You may be the most annoying thing I have ever had the misfortune of creating," Togar began, glancing to Urgo quickly before returning his attention to the screen in front of him, "but you were right about these people." 

Urgo was exceedingly pleased with himself. "So can we play hide and seek now? I'll start, you hide. One… two… three…" He stopped, seeing how Togar was attempting to ignore him. "Fine then, I can hide and _you _can come find me!"

"No Urgo!" Togar snapped, his eyes still fixed on the image of Jack and Sam collapsed in the holding cell he had created with Urgo's help. "Your plan is working – they are communicating. I cannot afford to miss seeing their method of resolving the issue."

* * *

_A/N: Never fear, there is more to appear! Please let me know what you think! Also, for those of you who were worried, Teal'c and Daniel will be coming back soon…_


	6. Holding pattern

_A/N: First things first, thank you so much for the positive reviews! I'm so glad people are liking this little idea I had after seeing _Urgo_ recently! _

_I'm sorry there was a small delay in this chapter… I work alot midweek so I'm pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Also, I've just spent the past 7 hours trying to call my parents who are in London at the moment. I'm sure they're fine, but I still haven't managed to get a hold of them since the bombings. _

Questionablelight_: I've tried to include a bit to address Urgo's motivations, but don't know if it's really clear. I guess in my mind he's got this childlike naïveté that means that his actions are not really thought out… Nothing is really his plan, but Togar's manipulation of his personality._

Cory_: Up till now I haven't really said a lot about physics (although there's a bit of a physics explanation in this chapter… but it's still pretty basic – we did it in high school)… hope you can still follow the little bits that I put in!_

_Apart from all that rambling, I hope you enjoy this instalment! _

_

* * *

_

Daniel was startled to see both Sam and Jack disappear in a flash of white light. Almost instantly, Togar also seemed to disappear, albeit without a flash. Daniel felt himself lose consciousness, but was awoken by another flash, this time blinding him as his whole body was transported. Struggling to regain control of his senses, Daniel twisted his neck and head in every which direction in an attempt to orient himself. He was still suspended in a pod, but the room he was now in seemed much smaller, and Teal'c was nowhere to be seen. In fact, there were no other pods in the room, let alone any other distinguishing features to the décor: the walls were smooth and appeared free of panelling, the floor white and unremarkable. An irritation on his right earlobe indicated that a small piece of technology had somehow been clamped to the side of his head. He tried to shake it off but it appeared stuck fast. Before he could ponder its function at all, a familiar wheezy giggle filled the room. With an inward groan, he figured out what the technology on the side of his head was for

"Daniel!" Urgo appeared, seemingly from nowhere, to stand in the centre point of the circular space. "Oh, how _are _you? How exciting this is! I've just seen Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter… We didn't get to play enough all that time ago, we should make up and have some fun now!"

Almost immediately, Daniel remembered why the conundrum 'Death or Urgo, Urgo or death' was not as straight forward as it could seem.

"Urgo…" he began cautiously, although trying to keep his voice bright. "I see you're – well."

"Oh well I can't complain," Urgo shrugged his shoulders, suddenly preoccupied by an unknown factor that Daniel couldn't perceive. "Yes Togar, of course." He said, evidently still in contact with the alien.

"Urgo," whispered Daniel urgently, "What's going on? What does Togar hope to learn from us?"

Urgo didn't respond, but instead put his hand against his mouth while pointing frantically at the ceiling with the other. It was hard to tell whether he was guilty, afraid, or giggling. Daniel looked to where he was pointing but could see nothing. At that moment, however, the ceiling seemed to wobble slightly before a clear glass screen descended from a break in the otherwise sparse surface. The initially void screen was promptly filled with an image of Sam and Jack kissing in the control room of the SGC, with General Hammond standing, gobsmacked, beside them. Daniel couldn't stop his mouth from gaping open in disbelief.

"Wha- what the hell!" He stammered, looking wide-eyed at Urgo. "When did… how… what gives you the right-" He stopped to think for a minute. Of all the things he had imagined could happen to him at the hands of Togar – dissection, cognitive experimentation, behavioural modelling studies – this had not been a scenario Daniel had envisaged. He felt decidedly uncomfortable looking at two of his closest friends kissing in such a manner, and needed to look away: it was essentially none of his business what they did together, although a spark of happiness did briefly ignite in his stomach. The strangeness of the circumstances brought him back down to Earth – he could see no reason why Togar would choose to show him this. He looked to Urgo, more puzzled than ever.

"Why are you showing me this?"

Urgo looked around to the images on the screen hanging from the ceiling and let a squeak of excitement escape through his lips. "Why do you have to ruin the moment with questions? Isn't it _romantic_!" He gushed, looking back to Daniel with radiant features. "Oh I've missed out on so much in the past two years… thank _God_ you came back to me!"

Daniel looked at the man standing in front of him, mildly annoyed. "Urgo, we didn't come back to you. Your _friend_ Togar implanted new chips into our heads the last time we were here. _He _made us come back – we had no choice."

Although trying desperately to ignore it, he couldn't avoid seeing, in the corner of his eye, the repeating video footage of Jack and Sam's probably illegal kiss. He couldn't believe that neither of them had told him anything, but then he was aware of the consequences of their actions. Distressed at this prospect, he found that he could no longer take it.

"Turn it off." He looked to Urgo, who made no movement, but appeared to be listening to Togar. "TOGAR!" Daniel shouted to the room. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but I can tell you now – none of us will applaud you for this gross invasion of privacy!"

Daniel's eyes flitted angrily around the room, unsure of what he should expect. Just as suddenly as Urgo had appeared before him, he disappeared into a pinpoint of light in the centre of room. A flash of white light announced the arrival of Togar, who appeared to be studying his subject in the pod with some consternation. Daniel waited patiently, acutely aware that the alien needed something from him. This would give him some power over their captor.

"You are right Dr Jackson," Togar spoke simply, without emotion. "Your friends were not forthcoming when I confronted them with the memory anomaly. This _privacy_ you speak of may well be the explanation."

Daniel found himself even more confused than before. "I'm sorry, a 'memory anomaly'? What does that mean exactly."

"I am sure you are aware that I have been monitoring your activities since the original _error_ that was Urgo." Togar began, as if what he was about to say should be blatantly obvious. "I found an anomaly whereby Colonel O'Neill and the one with a parasite possess one sixth more recorded data than you or Major Carter."

Daniel began to put the pieces together in his head, realising that Jack must have taken a 'window of opportunity' during the time-loops to explore his feelings. With a start, he realised what must have happened when Togar showed the footage to Sam.

"You actually showed this to Sam, didn't you?" he shook his head in disbelief. "Oh boy."

Togar looked at him questioningly. "I to understand that your purpose is to study different cultures Dr Jackson?" He waited until Daniel nodded before continuing. "Then I am here to ask you to help me… help me understand."

"You – the all-powerful Togar – need the help of an _outsider_?" Daniel looked at him grimly, his mouth forming a straight line.

"Yes, yes…" Togar tisked impatiently. "I request your insights to further my knowledge of Earth culture – to ascertain how much of a threat you pose."

Daniel looked at the man in front of him with distrust. He unconsciously tried to raise his hand to rub his head which was now throbbing with a lingering headache, but realised with annoyance that he was still completely immobilised in the strange pod.

"What would _ever _make you think that I…" he stopped short, finally taking in something Togar had said some minutes ago. Although still abhorred by the alien's actions, Daniel felt the familiar pangs of excitement start in his outer limbs as his curiosity grew. "You don't even understand what the term 'privacy' means, do you?" He looked at Togar now with wonder, and could almost _feel _the neurons in his mind connecting the dots of the previously incomprehensible situation. "All our actions must seem completely alien to you, if you are so devoid of emotion or personal rights such as privacy."

"You are correct in your assessment," for the first time, Togar appeared to be softening in his tone of voice. "There is legend that my people were once as volatile in their actions and beliefs as you are now, but despite the best minds studying the ruins and artefacts from this period, we are at a loss to understand why this was so, let alone why it is no longer."

"So we're here to help your kind understand?" Daniel spoke slowly, thinking things over. "I don't know if we can help…"

"You WILL help." Togar snapped harshly, any momentary softness now completely gone from his voice. "I will not relinquish you or your friends until I am satisfied with your explanations."

Daniel sighed inwardly to himself, dreading the next couple of days if this was to continue. "You don't understand, Togar. Obviously it is in your power to keep us here or let us go home, but my point is that your complete lack of emotion – your incomprehension of _privacy_ – is just as foreign to us as our reliance on our feelings appears foreign to you." He tried to transmit his sincerity in his facial expression. "I don't know if we can help you as much as you think we can."

Togar slid a hand over a device he wore around his wrist, not unlike a bracelet, before glaring at Daniel. "We will see about that. If you do not wish to explain your people's actions to me, it will merely delay your return. I will certainly find out what I need to by other means."

With that another flash of light engulfed Daniel, causing a sharp jab of pain as his already photosensitive eyes flinched at the bright illumination. He briefly perceived Teal'c, again in an adjacent pod in the larger room, before everything went dark.

* * *

Jack lay completely still on the bed with the pillow positioned comfortably on his face, muting his sensory perception of the room. He didn't know how long they had been silent, but didn't really care. He'd stuffed it all up. She'd had next to no reaction to his speech, his outpouring, his actual display of feelings. He punched the pillow absentmindedly and clamped it closer over his face – as close as he could. The lack of oxygen finally forced him to relinquish his hold on the pillow and he tossed it to the side of the room with listless annoyance. His senses were suddenly bombarded again with light and sound. He could hear the sound of Sam breathing evenly, apparently asleep on the couch, and the light on the ceiling bore down on his closed eyes with uncomfortable brightness. With considerable effort he sat up on the bed with a groan and rubbed his face, trying to sort out the storm in his mind. He looked over to the couch, where he could see Sam was indeed asleep. He could only see the tip of her shoulder appearing over the back of the couch and some of her hair protruding from the right end, but he found himself unable to avert his gaze from her sleeping form. How she could sleep when he was in such turmoil amazed him, no matter how tired she must be with her recent sleeping problems. Considering this, it occurred to him that he hadn't been sleeping a lot since their last trip to Tollana either – but then sleep had never been something he did a lot of, not without a couple of beers to first dull his senses anyway.

Jack was snapped out of his reverie by a sudden, audible gasp coming from the couch. In one brisk movement, Sam had woken and was now sitting bolt upright in the right-hand corner of the couch, recoiled from an invisible threat. Before he could react, Jack had moved to the couch and sat facing her. She didn't flinch, but didn't register his presence either. Lost as to what he should do, he grabbed her shoulders tightly and shook her slightly.

"Carter! You ok?" Still nothing. "Sam?" he softened his voice. "Sam, it's me. You're safe…" he reflected for a moment. "Well, as safe as we can be in a carbon-copy of the SGC guest quarters." He saw her withdraw at this last comment and quickly qualified it. "You're safe _with me_, ok?"

Sam came back to her senses as abruptly as she'd woken from the nightmare, completely disoriented, still in her dream world. Jack was shaking her, using her first name. With an extra pang of fear she remembered they were essentially being held captive, but relaxed seeing the look of concern on Jack's face. Realising how close together they were, she smiled weakly before pulling away and wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'm fine sir," she nodded, hopefully reassuringly, "Thanks."

Jack felt something inside him flinch as she moved away from him, opening a physical distance between them to rival the emotional distance he already felt. Settling into the other end of the couch, he looked at her carefully, not breaking eye contact. She was still shaking slightly, despite the tight hold she had on herself with her knees drawn right up to her chest.

"So this is why you can't sleep?" he asked quietly, forcing himself to hold his gaze. Sam shrugged without saying anything, and looked down towards her feet. Jack reached forward to touch her foot, causing her to look up.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked softly.

"Afraid, sir?"

"It's ok to have nightmares, you know." He still hadn't retrieved his hand, which was now resting comfortably on her ankle. "You don't wanna know what I see when I'm asleep…" his voice trailed away as he suddenly became lost in his own memories.

"I can't get the images out of my head…" she shivered unconsciously, remembering the dreams. "It's not just what happened to the Tollans, or to Joe with the Aschens… it's just that whatever we do, someone always gets hurt."

"Yeah," Jack finally tore his eyes away from her face and looked down at the couch. The sound of her voice snapped him back to attention.

"Sir, it's ok… I'm fine." Sam repeated, a little more firmly. With those words, Jack looked at her carefully, trying to figure out what was going on in her head.

"What does that actually _mean_, 'ok'?" he stopped her from interrupting. "I know what the word means, but what did it mean when you say it before?"

Sam squeezed her eyes shut. She knew she'd confused him, if not hurt him with her monosyllabic response. In truth 'ok' didn't even begin to cover her reaction to his admissions, but somehow she couldn't allow herself to explore her feelings, to talk to him. Of course they would eventually have to talk, but looking at the false concrete walls surrounding them, she was increasingly sure that this was not the place, even if it was the time.

"Sir, I don't think we should talk about this _here_." She began, trying not to sound as if the reason was only a hollow excuse. "It kinda freaks me out that Togar's watching our every move."

"I don't see any cameras-" Sam interrupted Jack before he could finish the sentence

"Think, sir. The microprocessors in our heads have been recording data for two _years_, what's to stop them from doing so now?" She saw comprehension dawn on his face. "I just don't like the idea of my – our – privacy being invaded by someone who's so narcissistic."

"Yeah what is it about these superior races? They're all so… _vain_." He was relieved to see a small smile cross Sam's lips. Although still aching to know that everything was ok between them, given the time-loop kiss, he let it go for the time being.

"So…" He waited until Sam was again looking at him before continuing. "D'you really think he's seen _everything _we've been doing for the past 2 years?" Jack thought back to some of the stupid things he got up to at home and felt his cheeks get warm at the prospect of some alien seeing every minute of it.

"Well," Sam reconsidered the information available to her, finding the same problem she had identified before. "It's certainly highly likely that the microprocessors contain data pertaining to pretty much everything we've done in the past two years. But I honestly don't think he's been receiving regular updates like he says. He probably only received the data in those three days at the SGC before we returned here. That would definitely explain why he seems so clueless when it comes to our actions."

"How can you be so sure?"

"It's quite simple really sir." She reached for the pad of paper and pens on the coffee table beside them. "To intercept a wormhole is, for all intents and purposes, impossible." Seeing Jack's blank face, she tore a piece of paper from the pad and held it up in the air. "Imagine this is the universe, and we want to get from Earth, here, to another planet, here." Sam marked two points on the piece of paper, at opposite ends. "When the stargate forms a wormhole, the space-time continuum is essentially folded so that both stargates exist in the same space for less than a second, allowing us to travel from one to the other." She folded the paper in half so that the two dots joined, and stuck her pen through at both points. "What before was on opposite ends of this piece of paper, is now at the same point, because we've folded the canvas."

"So what has this got to do with interception?" Jack was keeping up with Sam's explanation so far, but failed to see any link.

"Well, the wormhole that forms between these two points and pulls them together forms outside the plane of time and space." She motioned to the folded paper. "See, if the universe is this piece of paper, then the wormhole passes through something else to get from one point to another – it exits the known universe." She put the folded page down on the couch between them and looked to Jack, willing him to understand. "I don't think it's possible to enter a wormhole from the side, sir. It would defy everything I know about wormhole physics."

"So why would Togar lie?" Jack picked up the deposited page and turned it around in his hands as if it were an alien artefact.

"You said it sir, he's vain… he thinks he's being impressive." Sam shrugged. "But that doesn't mean he's not monitoring us now," She paused before continuing, "and we both know that he _does _possess data from our experiences over the past 2 years."

"So no talking then?" Jack was almost whispering, his voice was so quiet.

"Just careful talking, sir." Sam smiled, "Let's try not to give Togar any new information, ok?"

"Yeah, sure, _'ok'_…" Jack was about to get up off the couch, but a warm hand on his arms made him pause.

"I meant what I said before." Sam had leaned in forward so that their faces were only inches apart. "I would have done the same thing if I'd been lived all those time loops… and for the same reasons."

At that moment both Sam and Jack were struck by a blinding pain which caused them to arch their backs. Jack had the impression that someone was burning the cornea of his eyes as he was bombarded with images from his life over the past two years. The fast flashes of images spun as if on a treadmill before settling on a particular event. He could see Sam standing in the corridor of yet another Goa'uld ship. The forceshield between them prevented him from getting to her, she was trapped – the now useless arm band on the floor next to her. The ship would soon explode, but he wouldn't – no, couldn't – leave without her, even if it meant they died together.

Just as suddenly as the pain had come, the image dissipated from in front of Jack's eyes and he felt his entire body collapse into itself, still sitting in the couch of the fake-SGC guest quarters. When he had regained his composure, he looked across to Sam, who looked just as spent as he did.

"Did you just see-"

"We were-"

Both spoke at the same time as it became apparent they had just been subjected to the same memory, albeit from their own points of view. Jack rubbed his eyes as he felt a surge of anguish at the memory of their mission to destroy Apophis' ship.

"What was that?" He finally managed to look at Sam again.

Sam's voice was shaky when she finally spoke. "I think it's just the beginning, sir. Apparently Togar has the ability to make us relive moments in the past two years." She met his gaze as he looked up sharply. "I guess he really wants us to talk."

* * *

_A/N: I know, I know… I'm drawing it out… but I just don't think they'd jump straight into a heart-to-heart, if you know what I mean. That being said, this isn't designed to be an extra-long fic, so you shouldn't all have to wait too long!_

_Please let me know what you think!_


	7. Torture

_A/N: I'm so glad people are being positive about this fic! Thank you all so much. I'm glad that you seem to be understanding my characterisation of Togar and Urgo… Thanks especially to Natters – I'm glad you like my attempts at bits of humour! It's just a pity I've got them "emoting" now so I can't have as many quips as I would like!_

_Thanks also to Bekki for your encouragement, I'm trying really hard to channel the characters… oh, and yay Australia!_

_Also, it turns out my parents are fine. They were meant to be in London on the day but had been to Cambridge for a day trip the day before and decided to stay there… very lucky. Thanks to all for their concerns. _

_And now for the next instalment!

* * *

_

Togar monitored the two captives in their created environment with earnest concentration. Trying to ignore the twitterings of Urgo, who seemed beside himself with excitement, he programmed the stimuli necessary to elicit the reactions he sought from his test subjects. Then, ensuring the data recording devices were functioning within their expected parameters, he turned to face the eerily silent man suspended behind him in the homeostasis pod.

"He does actually talk, doesn't he Urgo?" Togar failed to notice the Jaffa react – almost imperceptibly – with a flinch of the jaw as he spoke.

"Oh yes! He's just very boring… not nearly as fun as Jack." Urgo pouted pathetically, "Can't we get him back in here… _he_ knows how to have fun!"

"You try my patience." With a bored flick of a switch on his wrist, Togar deactivated Urgo before walking towards the pod where Teal'c still managed to look stoic, despite being immobilised from the neck down. He circled the pod, in deep thought, while Teal'c merely fixed his eyes straight ahead, not moving a muscle. Togar tried to startle him, creating small jabs of pain in his immobilised legs, but still got no response.

"Are you not intrigued by the memory I showed you?" Togar was standing mere millimetres away from the pod, looking up at Teal'c. "Do you not… what's the word… _care_?"

Teal'c remained motionless, so Togar changed tactic. Sliding his hand over a portion of the wall to Teal'c's left, he revealed a control panel that seemed to materialise from nothing in the centre of the room. Manipulating the controls quickly and efficiently, he programmed the clear glass screen that was lowering from the ceiling at the same time.

Teal'c's eyes followed Togar wherever he went, but he remained silent, determined not the cede to the interrogation. He did, however, find the alien's methods quite strange, and failed to see the benefit Togar could hope to gain from asking such questions concerning the emotional ties binding the members of SG1. A familiar sound suddenly filled the room, and Teal'c trained his eyes on the images appearing on the pane of glass now suspended from the ceiling. He saw Tanith, the murderous Goa'uld spy, standing before him in the Tok'ra caves, expressing false condolences. Teal'c forced himself to keep his mouth closed, but he felt his jaw shaking with the rage welling up inside.

"Yes," Togar seemed satisfied with Teal'c reaction. "Now I see you are as they are… you _are _ruled by your emotions, difficult as that may be to perceive. I was concerned that maybe you could not help me with my study."

"I will help you with no study." Teal'c voice was even, but his eyes remained riveted on the screen above his head. "I am here because you have prevented me and my friends from departing." Teal'c returned his eyes to the space in front of him, looking at nothing in particular, clearly indicating to Togar that the conversation was over in his opinion.

Togar nodded as if these words spoke volumes, and with a quick adjustment to the control panel, the image on the screen disappeared. "I'm not here to ask you the same questions I will pose to your friends. You represent an interesting case – perhaps a bridge between my culture and that of the others." Togar had been pacing up and down in the room, but stopped suddenly directly in front of Teal'c. "You feel, but you rarely display these feelings."

Teal'c remained silent and immobile in front of Togar, although the glare in his eyes seemed to challenge the alien inquisitor.

"I will have to work on a completely different set of stimuli for you." Togar transported Teal'c back to a pod in the main chamber, before adding quietly to himself: "but at least I am certain now that you can be broken."

* * *

Sam was huddled at her end of the couch, exhausted by the ordeal of experiencing – yet again – those moments on Apophis' ship where she had thought all was lost. Togar had now bombarded them the memory so many times she had lost count. She felt as if one more experience would cause her to collapse completely. It had been bad enough remembering the event under the gaze of Anise/Freya the year before, but something about the advanced technology Togar was using meant that she was actually _there_ again. It was no longer a memory, but a complete living experience. Although the images were now gone, all the feelings of hopelessness and despair remained. She looked up under her hair, which was tousled in front of her eyes, to see Jack looking just as disoriented and pained as she. She saw him raise his shaking hands to rub against his face before he met her eye. 

"God I HATE these superior races and their god-awful technology!" he growled, trying to bring himself back into reality, but still unable to chase the feelings of utter devastation at the prospect of having to leave Sam behind, to her death. Unable to sort his thoughts out, his heart wrenched yet again as he saw Sam curled into the couch, obviously trying to retain control herself.

"Carter?" she hadn't reacted to his quip, but her eyes were fixed on him, her expression that of complete anguish. The vision of her face contorted in grief caused him to break again, reliving the exact feeling of seeing her behind that forceshield. He closed his eyes, trying to chase the emotion away, but it all seemed so hopeless. She had no way of escaping… when the bomb went off she would be killed… there wasn't enough time. The last ounce of his conscious mind screamed at him, trying to bring him back to reality, to remind him that they had escaped the shift intact. He listened to his consciousness, and determinedly opened his eyes to see Sam there, right in front of him, thankfully no forceshield between them.

Without thinking he slid halfway across the couch and pulled her towards him in his arms, burying his head in her shoulder, his body shaking with relief. He felt her undergo the same realisation as she went from being listless to suddenly clinging onto him for dear life.

"Oh god…" he rasped, unable to collect his thoughts. "I really thought you were…" he felt hot tears prick at his eyes. "I'll never forget how scared I was." He whispered before pulling away and looking Sam straight in the eyes. "I nearly lost you." He pulled her close again and, forgetting his insecurities, held her there, simply relieved that the bombardment of memories had momentarily abated.

Sam held onto Jack as tightly as she could, her head buried in his shoulder, breathing the familiar scent that so often served to calm her. She could feel the unbridled fear dissipating slowly from his muscles as he realised she was there, with him, and safe. Shifting her head slightly so her ear was pressed against his collarbone, she tested her voice carefully.

"I couldn't believe you were going to sacrifice yourself," she was surprised to hear her voice so clear, although it was definitely throaty with emotion. "I was so torn. I wanted you to escape but…" he breath hitched in her throat. "I didn't want to you leave me." The last few words were hardly louder than the air around them as Sam struggled to admit her feelings.

Jack held her close and leaned back into his corner of the couch so they were essentially lying down together, both exhausted by the emotional torture they had been subjected to. He felt hope rise within his heart at her last words… coupled with everything that had happened in the last few hours, he was at least reasonably sure that his feelings for her were not completely fruitless. The same realisation made him hold her even tighter, realising how much she must have suffered on the other side of that forceshield, seeing him refuse to leave.

They both lay together for almost an hour, struggling to recover from Togar's onslaught of memories. At the very least, it appeared as if they were doing what the heartless alien wanted, considering he hadn't subjected them to the memory in that time. Both were incredibly grateful, although they a certain anxiety that they were about to be thrown back into their past remained.

"Hey, Carter?" Jack was now almost completely spread out on the couch, eyes closed, with a comfortable, warm Sam nestled between his arms.

"Hmmm?" Sam didn't move, despite their compromising position. She needed to keep physical contact with him, to make sure he was still there and not back on Apophis' ship.

"Why did he choose that memory?" Jack realised he had been thinking in the time lying on the couch, and the situation was making less and less sense.

"Well, I suppose he thought it would elicit the best reaction out of the both of us." She lifted her head slightly but still couldn't bear to move away from Jack. "Let's face it – I think he was right."

Jack tried to accept it, but a nagging thought plagued the back of his mind. "But he already _knew _our feelings about that mission…"

Sam looked up at Jack sharply, before shifting her position to sit up next to him, still pressed against his side for support, her legs curled up on the couch. She considered his point and realised he was right – they were forced to reveal their feelings during the za'tarc test… Togar should already have the data he wanted.

"Well," she always found it easier to solve a problem by thinking out loud. "Togar said he wanted to understand our culture, with specific reference to the part emotion plays in our lives." She realised suddenly how much they usually relied on Daniel when interpreting the actions of the people they encountered on their travels. "When we refused to really talk about the… the…"

"Let's just call it the time-loop." Jack cringed at Sam's hesitancy to talk about their essentially one-way kiss. He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and cradled his head between his hands.

Sam didn't seem to notice Jack's interruption, but took his suggestion anyway. "So when we refused to discuss the time-loop he said that he couldn't analyse his data without the requisite knowledge…" Realisation suddenly dawned on her face. She looked to Jack who merely raised his eyebrows helplessly. "It's so simple," she breathed, the excitement of understanding revitalising her, "if he's essentially been monitoring us like in some experiment, he needs a control for comparison." Before the words were out of her mouth she shrank back into the couch, a second realisation dawning on her.

Jack sensed the swift changes in Sam, from optimistic enthusiasm to apparent defeated desolation. He touched her shoulder slightly, trying to bring her out of the shell she had so rapidly shrunk into. "What is it?"

"Sir," Sam had now reverted to protocol in her apprehensive state. "What we just experienced was a control situation – he wanted to gauge our reaction to a circumstance he already knew about in detail. He's probably comparing our actions of the past hour to what happened during the za'tarc testing."

"So…?"

"So," Sam pressed her palms against her forehead, dreading what was to come. "By now he'll have a way to measure or quantify our reactions. From here, he can make us re-experience anything from the past two years and measure our reactions according to what just happened."

"The hell he is!" Jack sat up from the couch, the anger rising within him. "TOGAR!" he roared to the ceiling. "You get your fat ass in here RIGHT NOW! I will NOT let you subject us-"

Sam didn't hear the rest of Jack's outburst. In a flash of white light, he simply disappeared from the room, leaving her sitting alone on the couch.

* * *

Jack found himself in the mock-dentists' chair again, although this time when he looked beside him he saw Daniel sitting there, looking just as perplexed by the instantaneous transport. 

"Daniel." he nodded warily.

"Jack." Daniel was still trying to figure out if Jack really was sitting next to him or not.

"So what's up?" Jack had returned to his light-hearted tone of voice, despite the dangerous glint in his eyes that Daniel knew could cause him explode at any moment.

"Uh.. well… I don't actually know." Daniel looked around him, taking the room in. "How about you?"

"Pssht, you know, once you've been held prisoner on the first planet, it's all the same." He paused momentarily. "I think this guy would rival anyone else we've met in the ego stakes though."

"I am merely aware of my own superior intellect with respect to your own, Colonel O'Neill." Togar appeared in front of them and addressed Jack without looking at him, his attention directed to the control panel.

"See what I mean?" Jack glanced at Daniel. "Not vain at all…" Turning his attention to Togar, he dropped the ironic tone of voice abruptly and let his true feelings show. "You're going to stop this, Togar." He hissed, ignoring the surprised gasp coming from Daniel. "What you're doing is horrible, and we're not going to stand for it."

"And what choice to you have, Colonel?" Togar still wasn't looking at him, as if the man didn't warrant his attention.

"Um, excuse me?" Daniel interjected before Jack could explode. "Someone want to fill me in?"

"He's using the _things_ in our heads to trigger specific memories, like those Tok'ra/Goa'uld things…" he stopped, struggling to retain his composure. "Only worse."

"But-" Daniel began, only to be cut off by Jack

"Carter reckons it's to learn about our emotions, and that he wants to see our true feelings come out when we remember traumatic events – or just events involving a high level of emotion – from the past two years."

Daniel digested what Jack had told him and realised with horror what that could entail exactly. The pain and suffering they had all experienced over the past two years… it would be torture to live through them again. He looked angrily towards Togar, appalled on behalf of his friends. With a jolt, he realised that Sam and Jack must have been detained differently to him and Teal'c.

"Um, Jack? Where's Sam?" Daniel didn't want to pry too much, remembering the images Urgo and Togar had showed him of the two kissing at the SGC.

"Togar's had us holed up in a weird replica of an SGC guest room…" he stopped suddenly and turned to Togar, who had been ignoring them again. "Why did you bring me out?" The blood drained from his face as numerous worst-case-scenarios flashed across his mind. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER!" he roared, straining to move his limbs but remembering with consternation that he was completely immobilised.

Togar seemed to complete whatever he had been doing on the control panel and looked up calmly. "I am doing nothing Colonel, I merely exited you from the holding cell so that I may try to understand your reactions. Dr Jackson is here to assist, as his understanding of my study is somewhat greater than your own."

"You've been _helping_ this guy?" Jack looked to Daniel, betrayed.

"I'd hardly call it that!" Daniel protested, his eyes wide. "I seem to remember saying that none of us could help!" Daniel eyed Togar suspiciously, wondering what the purported 'scholar' was on about.

"Indeed Dr Jackson is speaking the truth, but I have very little patience remaining." Togar snapped at them both. "This is why you are here." Togar made a now familiar-looking screen descend from the ceiling to show the last couple of minutes of Sam and Jack's conversation.

Jack felt his teeth clench together, but said nothing, more intent on gauging Daniel's reaction.

Daniel watched the scene unwillingly, aware that he was in a sense spying on his friends. Taking in their words, however, it suddenly dawned on him why Togar was so confused. "You _really_ don't understand us at all do you?" he asked incredulously. Daniel turned to Jack, who was making noises of protest. "To Togar, this is all just a controlled experiment – like Sam said." His eyes flitted to the screen as another pang of guilt washed over him for eavesdropping on their conversation. "But even worse, he doesn't understand the pain that it causes us to relive some of our memories." Daniel turned to Togar. "That's the whole purpose of your study isn't it? To understand our emotions, our pain?"

Jack looked from Daniel to Togar, horrified. It was one thing to be subjected to torture, but if the torturer wasn't even aware of the pain he was inflicting…

"Togar, _I_ don't even understand our emotions or the pain they cause us!" he protested, at a loss as to how he was going to get his team out of their predicament. "How do you think _you're _going to understand them?"

"You are underestimating the resources at my disposal, Colonel." Togar was staring intently at Daniel, seemingly contemplating the archaeologist's words. "So you are familiar with the concepts of experimentation, Dr Jackson, but you do not consider this particular study to be viable?"

Daniel let out a long breath, trying to collect his thoughts. "It's definitely different. For us, the emotional pain you are causing is like a great amount of real, physical pain. Do you understand how such a study could be torture for the subjects?" Daniel was trying to keep his language scientific, to best communicate with the alien.

Togar paused, for the first time seemingly unsure of himself. "You're lying." He stated simply. "I have noticed the propensity for emotion-laden species to misconstrue the truth."

"Dammit Togar he's telling the TRUTH!" Jack was fed up with the situation. "You saw how me and Carter were completely drained by your so-called _experiment_. Haven't you seen-"

Yet again, Jack didn't get the opportunity to finish his sentence. Togar had again activated the transport device and he disappeared from the room. Togar turned to Daniel, who remained in the room. "That one is tiresome," he stated simply, before continuing. "If you help me with this small procedure of the experiment, I will reconsider your words of protest."

TBC

* * *

_A/N : So there we go. Another chapter down… Sam and Jack edging closer (hey, we had significant physical contact!). We're not far off what most of you are waiting for – I promise! _

_Let me know what you think…I'm trying to avoid the cheese-factor when it comes to Sam and Jack but it's hard! At least with that massive hug I was kinda taking my cue from the season 3 ep "Into the Fire"... what _must _that Tok'ra operative have thought!_


	8. Despair

_A/N: Oh my god… I never imagined I'd get so many reviews! It's like a drug! I need more! But then I have to write more… which of course I love doing because it means I get more reviews! Oh sweetness…_

_You'll notice I've changed the genre of this to "Angst/Romance" after realising that there's bugger all action or adventure really in it… made sense._

_Anyhoo… thank you one and all. Glad I'm so far avoiding cheese, it's not going to get easier though. I've only just actually figured out kind of how this is going to end, but at least I know._

_And yes, Togar is evil/mean/whatever… but hey – he's the baddie!_

_Hope y'all like…

* * *

_

Jack felt himself land on the bed in the mock SGC guest quarters with a small thud as, yet again, Togar cut him off mid sentence. He unconsciously punched the mattress in frustration before looking up to find that Sam was nowhere to be seen. Dread filled his stomach as he realised that Togar had probably transferred her out of their unique holding cell. This time he punched the mattress with all his force, only partially grateful for the fact that it was soft – a small parted him wanted to inflict pain, to take all the annoyance out on himself.

"What did the poor bed do to you?" A familiar voice filled the room from behind him, sounding rather amused.

Jack whirled around to see Carter standing in the doorway that led to the bathroom. He was startled to realise the extent of relief that washed over him once he had taken in the fact that she was there, and not on some torture chair in one of Togar's labs.

"Don't _scare_ me like that!" He blathered, scandalised that he'd been subjected to those twenty seconds of anguish.

Sam tried to contain her amusement seeing him look so relieved. "Sorry sir, but sometimes a girl's gotta go."

"Yeah well," Jack grumbled, now embarrassed at his reaction. "What with all this freak of nature has been throwing at us…" he motioned to the ceiling, indicating Togar, "… you never know, ya know?"

"I can take care of myself." Sam sat at the head of the bed, leaning comfortably against a carefully constructed pile of pillows.

Jack stayed where he was at the other end of the bed, trying to come up with a suitable retort to her last comment when he noticed that she'd wrapped a fair amount of toilet paper over her left hand. He edged up the bed to where she was and took hold of her hand, his eyes demanding to know what had happened.

"Ah… that…" It was Sam's turn to look embarrassed. "I thought I saw a weak point in one of the walls and decided to investigate. I think I probably picked the right spot -where some sort of control panel is – because it shocked me…" She saw the concerned look on his face and found herself becoming quite annoyed. "It's fine, it's just a small burn." Seeing he still hadn't softened his expression, she continued. "What, d'you want us to stay trapped here or d'you want me to find a way out?"

Jack let Sam have her hand back and lay down on the bed next to her contemplating the boring concrete ceiling. He felt her relax next to him, but knew her brain would still be going sixteen to the dozen. Looking up he saw he was right, the familiar expression of concentration painting her face.

"Whatcha thinking?" he asked playfully.

Sam looked down at the mischievous expression on Jack's face and couldn't suppress a smile. "Just trying to figure out what this Togar really wants from us…" she gazed into the middle distance straight ahead of her. "I don't believe for a minute we're here so he can 'investigate' human relations with each other." She paused, unsure whether she should continue. "I mean, we're _hardly_ a textbook case of how people interact are we? He'd be better off probing Daniel's thoughts about Sha're, or Teal'c's even." Her voice dropped to little more than a murmur. "At least they've _had _love-lives recently." She kept her eyes directed straight ahead of her, avoiding whatever reaction Jack would have to that comment. In the absence of a response, she moved on, her voice returning to normal. "So where have _you _been?"

Jack hadn't failed to notice the implications of what Sam had said, but was merely too unsure of what to say before she had apparently changed the subject. He stretched his arms out in front of him before resting his hands behind his head on the bed.

"Back in those damned immobilising chairs. I saw Daniel though – he's fine," he added in response to Sam's questioning look. "I think Togar's been showing him what's going on with us though… it seems Daniel's been _helping_ him."

"What!" Sam sat up, shocked to her the words coming out of Jack's mouth.

"Well, not exactly _willingly_." Jack sat up to look Sam in the eye. "If you think about it, it makes sense. Danny-boy's the expert among all of us at understanding different cultures. He's kind of Togar's equivalent, albeit a non-machiavellian one."

"Well I guess we can thank him later for the fact that there have been none of those creepy flashbacks recently." Sam looked down at the bed, deep in thought, before snapping her head back up to look at Jack. "Togar didn't… do… anything to you when you were there, did he?" The concern showed through her expression.

"No." Jack answered simply. "Seems he just wanted to find out why I was so angry at being psychologically tortured – apparently he doesn't _understand_." He snorted angrily. Dropping his head slightly, he continued. "I think you were right about his plan though, I don't know what's taking him so long to bombard us with another bout of torture…" He looked up, resigned to his fate. "I really don't know how to fight this."

Sam swallowed slowly, taking in what she'd just heard. Fiddling with her fingernails again, she collected her thoughts. "I don't think we _can_ fight it. If we do, it could just get worse."

"But how do we know it's going to get any better?" Jack snapped angrily. "This guy's got complete power over us! We can't even touch a wall without being electrocuted!" He motioned to Sam's hand. "He's worse than those goons in the NID."

At this last comment, he was stunned to see Sam's face perk up, apparently in some sort of epiphany. He could see the familiar wheels turning in her mind as she drew her legs closer to her, apparently running something over in her head.

"Eureka?" he asked cautiously.

"Hmmm…" Sam was still deep in thought. "Not exactly… but I may have an idea."

Before she could finish her thought, however, both of them were suddenly wrenched from their comfortable positions into agonising contortions as Togar subjected them to yet another onslaught of torturous memories.

The now familiar rapid slideshow of images flashed across Sam's mind before settling. She was struggling to escape the grasp of two airmen restraining her at the entrance to the holding cell as she saw Jack leaving to effectively sacrifice himself for her. He glanced at her as he was propelled towards what would probably be a fatal experiment at the hands of the za'tarc detector but kept walking. Again and again, she strained, she saw him walking to what would probably be his death. He couldn't do this, he couldn't leave her. Either they _both_ lived or they _both_ died. He couldn't leave her alone… The nightmare refused to end as the images repeated in her mind. She was no longer aware of reality as her consciousness was completely consumed by the feelings of anger, despair and complete helplessness in the face of seeing the man she loved walking towards an almost certain death – for her.

Jack felt nauseous as the images flashed across his mind. He tried in vain to retain a sense of reality as the images slowed to a stop. He saw the murderous look on Sam's face as the entity spoke through the creepy voice synthesiser. He saw 'Sam' run through the hall and stop to face him. He had to shoot. He killed her. Again, and again, and again. Sam was lying motionless on the gurney in the infirmary. Braindead. He'd killed her. She was gone. They had to turn the life-support off. She was gone… he'd killed her… he'd done this… it was _his _fault. Screaming out in agony and frustration he killed her, over and over… he saw her essentially void body lying there as his heart ripped to pieces, General Hammond speaking somewhat redundantly about 'difficult decisions'… He'd killed her, he'd destroyed the only woman who had been able to make him feel alive in recent years… he'd killed the woman he loved.

* * *

"Stop it!" Daniel was screaming at Togar, unable to contain his distress. "You're killing them!" 

Togar looked away from the screen, surprised at the words he heard. "_Killing_ them? But surely memories cannot actually terminate life?" He looked to the screen again, as both Jack and Sam continued to writhe around on the bed.

"You don't GET IT!" Daniel was still shouting, speaking as fast as he could and still remain comprehensible. "People _can_ die from grief! They can be so consumed by trauma that they lose all will to live! Stop this or you WILL kill them!" Daniel's heart was in his throat as he ineffectively tried to move against the invisible restraints on the chair. "Just tell me what you want explained! I'll tell you anything!"

"I know you will." Togar stated simply, unmoved by the man's agony. "That is not my objective."

"Well what the HELL is!" Daniel felt tears of frustration welling in his eyes, completely unable to help or do anything. "Tell me what you want! This whole farce of _understanding_ our feelings is making less and less sense! STOP IT and tell me what you WANT!"

The memory programme automatically disengaged and Daniel saw Sam and Jack collapse back onto the bed, unconscious. With an exhausted sigh of relief he unclenched all the muscles in his face and neck that had been contorting with rage and let his head flop backwards onto the back of the chair. "Thank you." He breathed, despite being almost sure that nothing he had said made Togar stop.

Togar was absorbed by the readings on the display in front of him for several minutes before addressing Daniel again. Finally turning to the exhausted archaeologist, he said ten simple words before Daniel was again engulfed in a white light. "You have just told me what I needed to know."

* * *

Jack struggled to navigate through the clouded pain engulfing his consciousness. He was aware of a certain emptiness… a blackness… but he didn't know what that meant. Was he dead? Was it over? More importantly, where was Sam? Slowly he sensed light on the other side of his eyelids. The throbbing pain in his head screamed at him not to open his eyes, but with a mammoth effort he managed to let a sliver of light through. Repressing the urge to throw up, he kept his eyes open as tiny slits, enough to try and understand where he was. Before he could try to move his head, the pain and anguish hit him again. He had killed Sam, she was lying dead on the gurney because of him. Thrusting his arms out in complete despair his right hand struck an unmoving body next to him. His heart leapt to his throat as he grabbed onto the arm lying next to him, as if for dear life. With a superhuman effort, he pulled himself onto his side and saw Sam, unconscious, lying next to him. With such a massive wave of relief that he cried out, Jack pulled her listless body onto his and clung to her, listening to her breathe, feeling her chest rise and fall with every breath. Exhausted by his effort, Jack felt everything go black again as he passed out. 

He had no idea how long he had been out when he heard the voice. "Oh god no! Please don't! Jack!" Sam's body was rigid with terror she saw Jack walking away to his death.

Trying to ignore the still constant throbbing in his head Jack struggled to speak, his mouth acrid and dry. "I'm sorry." He croaked. "I had no choice…" Still consumed by his experience, he saw Sam, lifeless on the gurney.

Both of them stopped, hitching their breath in a moment of uncertainty.

"Sam?"

"Jack?"

"Ye-es…" they both responded to each other's tentative appeal.

Opening their eyes simultaneously each grabbed hold of the other as sobs of relief racked their bodies.

* * *

Togar watched intently as his test subjects slowly recovered from their ordeal. Urgo was making horrified squealing noises from behind him but knew better than to utter a word. 

"So it can be done." Togar spoke to no-one in particular. "Despite your tiresome whinings, you have done me a great service in sharing your insights of these humans. Our people can be more sure than ever of their security."

Urgo was almost hopping around on one foot behind Togar's menacing frame. "Oh please tell me that's enough! You don't actually _want_ them dead, do you?"

"I see no reason to keep them alive." Togar responded coldly. "Although it's probably not necessary for them to expire, it would be valuable to have a concrete case where this method has worked effectively."

Urgo looked aghast at this possibility, and started wringing his hands together while continuing to whine. "And the Jaffa? He's different… what about him?"

"Ah." Togar appeared to reconsider. "He is definitely stronger than the others. We will have to try something different with his kind."

Urgo was suddenly looking devious as his mind worked ahead of time. "So there's no harm if you leave the others be while you experiment on him? Can I play while you're busy? Pleeeaaaaaaaase?"

Togar clicked his tongue with impatience. "Not for the moment. I need to monitor them. If you cease to interfere with my work I may consider it later."

Urgo immediately stopped speaking and pulled an imaginary zip closed over his mouth. An impish grin spread across his face as he began planning.

TBC

* * *

_A/N: Ok, I know… this one was a difficult chapter for Sam and Jack. I promise all will be revealed next time. Both as to Togar's plans for Teal'c, Urgo's plans for whatever the hell it is he's doing (for me to know and you to find out!)… and last but not least… there will be (drumroll) THE TALK… _

_On that note, I have to warn you I'm working 8 hour shifts the next five days straight and am obliged going out for dinner with different people for the next four nights (with my parents in England, all their friends are demanding that me and my brothers visit for "a good meal"). I will try to post asap but if there's a bit of a delay, you'll understand why!_

_Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase review! I need it… I'm getting strung out…_


	9. Would you?

_A/N: I am running solely on adrenaline. I was up at 5.30 this morning for work, it's now almost 1am and I've got to be up at 5.30 again tomorrow (or is it this morning?) for work!_

_Thank you all for the AWESOME reviews! I can't believe how positive everyone is being! I was touched by the indignant protestations that followed my announcement that there may be a delay for this part! I've done my best to write it as fast as possible!_

_The crazy thing about writing a fic like this is that I've got everything figured out in my head, including motivations and action that is going on "behind the scenes". I forget that what's obvious for me maybe isn't for the reader… thanks to _FanFicForever _and _Janissima _for reminding me of that… I've addressed one of your questions in this chap and I'll get to the other soon! And thanks to _AthenaIceGoddess_ for making me blush with her compliment!_

_I just hope that as I wrap the story up, you're not all disappointed by the way I do it – having built the tension and all! Here goes nothing anyway…

* * *

_

General Hammond stood in the control room, looking at the shimmering event horizon of the stargate as they tried again to contact SG1 or even any inhabitant of Urgo's planet. This was the third time in the last 8 hours they had tried to contact the SGC's flagship team without success. They had now been gone almost 24 hours, much longer than the previous times they had visited the strange world.

"Any change in the MALP reading sergeant?" his deep, calm voice betrayed the concern he felt.

"No sir." The sergeant replied. "We're still receiving the false image of a tropical beach."

General Hammond sighed before again gripping the microphone in an attempt to contact anyone on the other side of the wormhole.

"I repeat." His voice was stern and forceful. "This is General Hammond of the SGC. I am trying to reach Colonel O'Neill and his team. If anyone can hear me I implore you to respond and return my people, or we will be forced to take action."

His heart skipped a few beats as he waited for a response – any response. Just as he was about to order that the gate be shut down – again – an arrogant, menacing voice sounded over the loudspeaker.

"This is Togar. Your people are my test subjects. I will return them if and when I see fit." There was no emotion in the voice, it was merely a cold statement.

"I require assurances that my team is in fact alive. Otherwise I will not hesitate to attack your world." General Hammond had grabbed the microphone with such force he was inwardly surprised it hadn't broken and been wrenched from the desk. Switching to the loudspeaker intercom, he boomed his orders to the base. "This is General Hammond, prepare the weapon for deployment through the stargate."

As he saw various Air Force officers scurrying around the gate room in preparation for the launch of the naquada bomb. General Hammond took the microphone again to speak to Togar. "I am warning you for the last time. Unless I am given some assurance of the safety of my people, we will not hesitate to attack promptly."

He barely had to wait before the response came booming through the stargate. "Any weapon you send will be destroyed before it rematerialises." Togar's voice was calm, in sharp contrast to the activity at the SGC. "I will advise you as to my decision regarding your people when my study is complete. No significant harm has come to them thus far."

With those words, the stargate deactivated, leaving General Hammond surprised, to say the least. "Sergeant, why has the gate disengaged?"

The sergeant was manically typing into the console in front of him, trying to find the anomaly in the computer programme. "I don't know sir," he stuttered. "We initiated the wormhole, it should have held until _we _decided to disengage."

"Is it possible this Togar could deactivate it from the other end?" The General was increasingly worried about the fate of SG1.

"If he has a means to cut all power to the gate, sir, then yes." The sergeant looked up to the head of the SGC. "It's just unexpected. Most other worlds have DHDs which would prevent such a thing from happening."

General Hammond stared through the now empty ring, contemplating the fate of his favourite team, regretting his decision to send them through the gate more than ever.

"Umm.. sir?" With a start, Hammond realised he hadn't been listening to a word the sergeant had said. Redirecting his gaze to the man seated at his left, he nodded apologetically for him to continue.

"Sir, do we redial to sent the naquada bomb?" the sergeant's hands were shaking slightly, unwilling to be one of those responsible if SG1 was in fact killed by such a deployment.

"No sergeant." General Hammond sighed. "Let's give them some more time. Hopefully they can get out of this one themselves."

The sergeant sighed with relief before chancing a look at the General to express his gratitude. He discovered the man already on his way up the stairs, shoulders sagging with the weight of four priceless lives whose fate was unknown.

* * *

Teal'c became conscious in the pod and swiftly looked around, assessing the situation. Seeing that not much had changed, and that Daniel was again unconscious in the pod next to him, he returned his gaze to the middle-distance straight ahead, his neck and face muscles remaining tense. He tried not to think about the fact that he hadn't actually seen Sam and Jack since their first conversation with Togar. But then, in truth, he had no way of knowing how long that was ago, as he had been in stasis twice already. It occurred to him that there must be a reason for his awakening from his enforced slumber, but Teal'c wasn't going to give anything to the man holding him prisoner. He remained stoically silent. 

A ripple in the otherwise still air alerted him that there was in fact some activity within the chamber. Craning his neck to the right, he saw part of the wall had slid away to reveal Togar entering from an adjacent room he had not as yet seen. It appeared to be a control room, with almost every panel covered with various images. Before the wall again slid into a smooth surface, he glimpsed an image of what looked like the SGC guest quarters, Sam and Jack apparently unconscious on the large bed.

"Ah. You are conscious." Togar stated, stopping in front of Teal'c an eying him warily.

Teal'c remained motionless, determined not to cede in front of his captor.

Togar kept his eyes trained on the Jaffa, looking, for the first time, slightly concerned. The unequivocal mental and physical strength of the man before him contrasted sharply with the somewhat _mediocre _nature of his companions. Although not afraid, Togar remained cautious.

"Your friends have been most… obliging… with my study." He began, testing the water somewhat, searching Teal'c face for any sign of reaction – there was none.

Seeing the Jaffa was unlikely to willingly participate in any course of action, Togar merely shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention to the control panel that had risen from the ground between him and Teal'c. With determination, he pressed a series of four buttons and returned his gaze to Teal'c.

Teal'c felt all of a sudden as if he was being torn in four directions at once. His symbiote squirmed at the disturbance as his brain was bombarded with a kaleidoscope of images that seemed to be racing in front of his eyes. The images continued interchanging on the backs of his eyelids but flashed constantly to Tanith, and his lost love's motionless body on he gate ramp… murdered by the would-be Tok'ra traitor. The painful experiences of his past melded together until the image before him was no longer important. All he felt was anguish, sorrow, and murderous rage. Crying out with a roar that would rival the most fearsome lion Teal'c threw his head back with such force that he strained numerous muscles in his neck. The pain brought him abruptly back to reality, still suspended in the pod, with Togar watching him intently. Recovering his senses quickly. Teal'c slowed his breathing and resumed his rigid stare straight ahead, determined that whatever Togar's objective, it would not be reached through him.

Togar glanced down at the control panel as he saw Teal'c recover from his episode with satisfaction. The intensity of the probe he had just subjected the Jaffa to was greater than that he had inflicted on Sam and Jack in either of their seizures. And yet, the Jaffa showed none of the signs of neuronal stresses the others exhibited, and his psychological state seemed intact.

"You are indeed stronger than your companions." He stated crisply. "But I will find a way to break you." With that he slid his hand over a portion of the control panel in front of him. Teal'c's head dropped as once again he was put into stasis.

* * *

Sam lay on her side, exhausted, on the bed, slipping in and out of consciousness in the wake of the ordeal she had just suffered. Every now and then her mind became lost again in her nightmare, but these moments were becoming rarer as time went on. She didn't know how long she had been like this, only that every time she opened her eyes, he was there. He was right there with her, in every way just as traumatised as she. Occasionally she heard him take a sharp intake of breath as he relived a moment of his personal hell. Squeezing his hand in hers, she would bring him back to reality and look into his eyes, still moist from the tears of relief they had both shared following Togar's torture. Slowly but surely, it was easier to remain conscious. She daren't move, for fear of exacerbating the biting pain in her head, but she kept her eyes open and fixed straight ahead, looking straight into his warm, brown gaze. 

Finally summoning the strength to try and move her muscles in the absence of adrenaline, Sam disengaged her hand from his and moved to stroke his cheek, still not quite sure if he was really there with her.

"You were going to die for me." She whispered, her voice still shaky. "You _would_ have died for me."

Jack had been gazing at Sam for so long his eyes were starting to burn. He daren't blink, lest she disappear – lest he be flung back into the nightmare. Her touch on his cheek surprised him, but he found himself moving his neck slightly to nuzzle into her warm palm, finding comfort in the closeness between them. He fought back tears at her words, remembering his actions during the relived memory, and brought his hand level with hers, covering it with his own.

"I would _always _die for you, if it gave you a fighting chance." He whispered back, speaking sincerely.

Sam felt a lone tear falling down her cheek, following the streaks left by the torrents that had fallen only a short time before. "But then you'd leave me alone." Her voice was barely more than a muffled gulp, as she struggled to contemplate a life without Jack. "What would I do without you?" She turned her palm up and grasped his hand before resting her forehead against his knuckles.

Jack remained completely still, looking at the woman in front of him, his heart aching, wishing he could make it all go away for her. His own nightmare was nothing compared with seeing the trauma Togar had inflicted on her. Nevertheless, her last comment resonated with him and caused him to regress into the memory one more time. Sam, braindead and on life-support, on the gurney in the infirmary. He forced himself to concentrate on the real and tangible, and let out a wavering breath.

"I _did_ lose you." His voice was barely audible. "I _killed_ you." He moved his and Sam's hands over her mouth to stop her from interrupting. "You were as good as dead, that _thing_ had taken over your body and I shot you – twice. I killed you." He took his eyes off her momentarily to glance at the ceiling, looking for the right words. "I sat there looking at your lifeless body, just _wishing_ I could take it all back…" he paused, and looked back into her eyes. "… _wishing_ I could do it all again – differently." Inching forward so his forehead was resting on hers, he allowed his eyes to close, comforted by the feel of her warm skin against his.

"I'm still here." Sam spoke quietly, but Jack could have sworn he was reading her thoughts.

"So am I." Jack opened his eyes to look at her again, unwilling to ever look away. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?" she sounded like a scared child, her eyes wide as she pleaded with him.

"God yes!" Jack closed his eyes and placed chaste kiss on the bridge of her nose before resting his forehead against hers again.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Did I kiss you back?" Sam held her breath, her tongue almost lodged in her throat with tension as she awaited his response.

"Wha… wh… uhhh… I think so." Jack cringed even has he heard his answer, suddenly petrified in both senses of the word.

Sam shifted her head slightly to get a better look at him. "You couldn't tell?" Her eyes widened in confusion.

Jack closed his eyes briefly before opening them to look her straight in the eye. "I… was too scared to even deal with short term consequences in the loop…" he felt his face going red. "I kissed you just as the loop was ending… we were cut-off, so to speak." He looked down for a moment before slowly returning his gaze to her face. "_Would _you have kissed me back?"

Sam looked at the man before her in disbelief. Didn't he know? Couldn't he tell? Her actions over the past four years… All the hints she'd dropped since they arrived in Togar's 'little shop of horrors'… And he was _still _uncertain? Sam felt her chest shake with a silent, somewhat delirious, laugh. She felt tears come to her eyes again, but this time they had nothing to do with anguish or relief. Sam didn't even know what these tears were for, but seeing the look of shocked concern on Jack's face, she forced herself to regain her composure.

Opening her mouth to speak, however, Sam found she was at a loss for words. She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, becoming inwardly frustrated at this inability to express her feelings. Seeing the look of increased anxiety on Jack's face she returned her hand to his cheek and gave him a meaningful look in the hope that he would understand. She felt the tense muscles around his jaw soften at her touch and stroked his cheekbone with her thumb, never averting her eyes from his.

"Would you?" He was so close to her she could feel the breath against her chin as he whispered the words. She hadn't noticed the sensation until now. Shifting her head slightly, her nose brushed against his. The contact was so comforting, she froze in that position.

"Yes." The word had barely left Sam's mouth before Jack closed the mere millimetres between them to press his lips against hers.

The kiss was nothing like the urgent embrace he remembered from the time-loop. There was no uncertainty this time. No time-loop about to cut him off. Just Sam; her body lying so close to his he could almost feel her up against him despite the few inches that did separate them. Suddenly the horrific memories that had haunted them both over the years – before and after their first encounter with Urgo – came rearing to the forefront of his consciousness. All the times she had been captured. All the times she had been presumed dead. All the times he'd thought he'd lost her. He kissed her more fiercely than ever, his tongue venturing into her mouth. He wanted her… he _needed_ her.

A small gulp escaped from Sam's throat as she realised that Jack was crying. He had moved his hand to her cheek and was now kissing her with such urgency she thought she would faint. Returning the powerful emotions spilling from him with just as much force, Sam held onto Jack as if for dear life.

Eventually breaking off from his lips, Sam buried her head in Jack's shoulder, breathing deeply. She felt him plant feather light kisses on her neck and earlobe while whispering comforting words she couldn't hear. In one swift movement, she slid one arm under his muscular frame and draped the other over his chest. Clinging onto him, she felt the events of the past hours suddenly come crashing down on her. Feeling safe at last, she let out a long, wavering sigh before passing out from exhaustion.

TBC

* * *

_A/N: Ok, there was going to be more, but I REALLY need sleep, and I've reached by average length for a chapter anyway. I'll write more when I can! _

_How's the cheese factor?_


	10. What now?

_A/N:_ _I know it's been a while, but my lack of sleep has been catching up with me in the past couple of days! Thank you all so much for reassuring me that I wasn't being too cheesy. I'm starting to feel the expectations you all have for this story, which is why I'm delaying the next bit of action (getting the story straight so I can defend any outcry later on). This is really a continuation of the fluff, with some extra all important "TALK"… _

_Otherwise, I can't believe I'm up to ten chapters… when I thought of this story I honestly didn't think it would go further than five! Now I find myself thinking of a bloody sequel after it ends (which – I hope – is within about five chapters from now)… at this rate I'll never get my thesis done._

* * *

A wonderful shroud of darkness seemed to cover Jack's head. He had actually been asleep. A fitful sleep with no dreams… no distractions… nothing. A small voice in his head told him he should be thinking of a plan… acting… but the sensation of actually _relaxing _was so welcome he didn't care. The warm feel of a delicate arm draped across his torso only made him feel more secure, the gentle weight of Sam's head on his shoulder, her lips grazing his collarbone, the way her hair was tickling his neck… if he could freeze the moment in time he would have done it in a heartbeat. Sighing contentedly, still not opening his eyes, he gently traced his fingers up and down Sam's arm, letting her know he was there.

"Hmmm…" Sam shrank away against the feel of his touch, welcome as it may be. "Lemme sleep…" she murmured before nuzzling her head into her 'pillow'.

Jack shifted slightly so that Sam's head was now resting on his arm; he turned towards her so he could see her face and finally opened his eyes. He smiled at the sight of Sam, still half-asleep, with her hair looking like it had lost in battle against a hurricane.

"Carter" he whispered gently. When there was no response other than a nondescript 'hmmmm', he leaned forward gently to plant a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Tickles." Sam managed to breathe the word, struggling to clear the pleasant fog in her mind.

Jack giggled slightly at the reluctance she was showing to his attempts to wake her up. "Figures," he said to her softly, "I have to _order _you to sleep back at the base, and here you're like Sleeping Beauty…"

"Hmmmm. Maybe we should sleep together more often." Sam's voice was getting stronger, although she still refrained from opening her eyes. Her mind was starting to work again, albeit slowly. So comfortable was she, she didn't want to return to reality this time. The warm body next to hers, the soothing feel of Jack's breath ruffling her hair slightly. She smiled despite herself and opened her eyes to see his face only inches from hers.

"Morning." Jack smiled at her sleepily, inwardly amazed at how relaxed she was.

"Maybe."

"Huh?" Only 30 seconds into the day and already he didn't know what she was talking about.

Sam's mind was fast warming up and she was increasingly aware of their situation. She yawned widely and drew her hand away from his body, slid her head onto the actual pillow and stretched both her arms above her head, looking at the ceiling. Looking back to Jack she saw he hadn't moved and was looking at her intently.

"We don't actually _know_ it's morning sir." She sighed groggily, missing the feel of his warm body against hers already. "We don't even know _where _we are…" she added, becoming lost in her thoughts.

Jack let his head fall back on to the pillow in sadness, remembering at last how they were in fact prisoners, as well as military officers in the same chain of command.

"Yeah," he mumbled, "Damn."

Sam reached her hand out to grab his and gave it a squeeze in comfort. She saw his head swivel to meet her gaze and smile weakly at her.

"We're gonna get out of this." Her voice didn't sound nearly as sure as she would have liked.

"Then what?" he felt the words catching on his throat. Never before had he been quite so unsure of what lay ahead.

"I don't know." Sam wasn't sure if she had thought or said the words, but before she let Jack react to them, she drew him closer to her and kissed him slowly, letting him understand how she felt. She didn't know if they would ever get another chance to actually express themselves and wasn't about to let the opportunity to get away from her.

Jack was fighting to retain a grasp on reality as the feel of Sam's lips against his made him dizzy. He was no longer sure that they were even conscious. The thought crossed his mind that this could be another of Togar's tricks. As he felt his tongue venture into Sam's mouth and reached his hand to grasp the back of her head, intensifying the kiss, however, he realised the improbability of that idea. Forcing himself to pull away to look at the woman in front of him, Jack pondered their predicament.

"Is this real?" he was almost afraid to ask the question.

"Oh yes." Sam closed her eyes, suddenly completely uncertain of everything. "That's the problem…" She let her head sink into the pillow, and opened her eyes to reveal a desolate expression that caused Jack's heart to ache.

"Sam…" he began, stroking her hair comfortingly, "I'm really sorry about the whole time-loop thing."

"Huh?" Sam looked surprised. "God that's the furthest thing from my mind right now."

"Well essentially it seems to be what got us into this whole mess." Jack's heart sank as he realised how much their current situation was his fault. "I should've known there'd be consequences."

"It's not your fault, sir. It's Togar's." She said firmly, although without moving away from him.

"Yeah I guess," he sighed, "I just never thought my… feelings… would ever get us into a mess like this."

"_Our_ feelings, sir," Sam corrected, "both of us." she added quietly, looking sideways in an attempt to avoid his gaze.

"Sam-"

"Jack-"

They both stopped and looked at each other.

"Carter, I don't think I can go back to the way things were… if we get out of this." Jack took a leap of faith in talking so frankly. "You mean the world to me… I… I don't _want_ to go back to the way things were."

Sam struggled to keep her expression even, as inside, her heart soared at his words. Despite all that had happened to them in the past and since arriving on the planet, she'd always had lingering doubts, the plaguing thoughts in her mind that maybe he didn't feel the same, maybe they could never be.

"Me neither," she realised her voice was shaky with the emotion. "All that has happened to us in the past… one day we won't be so lucky." She stopped him from protesting. "You have to admit we've had more than our fair share of luck. I… I don't want to lose you without having really known you."

Jack saw the fear in Sam's eyes. At a loss for words he pulled her body close so it was pressed against his and kissed her again, this time passionately, his arm venturing down her side, and under her top, his fingers trailing circles on the small of her back. He felt her shiver at his touch as she intensified the kiss, her right hand now kneading into his back. Reluctantly forcing himself to wrench his lips free of the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers, their eyes fixed on each other.

"So what do we do?" he asked, his breath rasping.

"Well," Sam whispered, her hand maddeningly tracing the line of the waistband on his pants. "First I think we need to get home… then we'll see."

"But no more status quo?" Jack felt his heart skip a beat in anticipation of the uncertain, but surely improved, future that lay ahead of them – providing they got there.

"No." Sam whispered breathlessly, feeling her mouth curl up in a timid smile.

Jack was contemplating the wisdom of recapturing her lips with his when he heard a muffled squeal coming from the corner of the room. Freezing in his position he looked to Sam, wide eyed. The look on her face told him she'd heard it too. Slowly, they both turned their heads and pulled themselves up into a half-sitting position.

As soon as they moved, both were struck by a biting pain in their heads, forcing them down onto the bed again. Jack had nonetheless managed to glimpse the cause of the noise sitting on the couch, looking at them as if it was Christmas and New Year's all at once. He growled with exasperation before grabbing the pillow from under his head and launching it across the room.

"Goddammit, URGO!" he roared, scandalised that the sophisticated artificial life form had been watching them. "Ow!" He grasped his head, which had protested to the outburst.

"You ok?" Sam reached her hand to grasp his.

"Yeah, fine… just feels like the Doc's stabbing me in the base of the neck." He grimaced, but squeezed Sam's hand to reassure her. Shifting his head so he could see Urgo without lifting his head, he glared at the annoying being before her.

"What is this Urgo? What are you doing here?" He paused momentarily, "what are _we_ doing here?"

TBC

* * *

_A/N: So… enter Urgo! Explanation coming up as to his motivations… maybe even a way out for SG1… watch this space._

_Most importantly, tell me what you think of my attempt at a 'talk'!_


	11. Adverse effects

_A/N: Well here I am again. Continually grateful for all the LOVELY reviews. I would have written more of this over the weekend but I had to read the new Harry Potter book! All those people over in that section of will have a whole new set of ideas now!_

_I'm glad people liked my take on the 'talk'. I didn't want to make it too complicated because I honestly don't think they would launch into monologues or anything like that. You're right, _janissima, _it's bloody hard to write – but great to read if it's done well! I hope you're not going to be disappointed with my treatment of Urgo, _Bookworm37,_ but essentially he's not the really bad guy. Speaking of Togar, your wish may be granted, _Arrant Schemata, _but you'll just have to wait and see_.

* * *

Urgo looked from Sam to Jack, and back to Sam again. He was unable to wipe the massive grin off his face as he saw how close they were, lying in each other's arms on the bed. Mentally making some changes to the main computer in the facility, he directed his full attention to the two officers in front of him.

"It makes me so _happy_ to see you both," he exclaimed, his voice reminiscent of a six-year-old's excited squeal. "And together… isn't this just amazingly romantic?" He was almost bouncing on the couch. "Such a wondrous thing, this emotion you call love!"

Sam looked at Urgo, gobsmacked. Here they were, stuck on some planet, essentially playing the role of lab-rat to a Machiavellian zoologist, and this sentient computer being (otherwise known as an annoying, immature moron) was prattling about romance and love. She couldn't help but feel her cheeks become slightly warmer at the mention of love, and the realisation that not only Urgo, but probably Togar as well had seen their displays of affection. Glancing over at Jack she could see he was also taken aback with Urgo's words. There was, however, an angry glint in his eyes.

"ROMANTIC!" Jack bellowed, ignoring the sharp pains in his head. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're trapped here with NO IDEA what's going on, NO WAY OUT, and I swear to God one more of those TORTUROUS trips down memory lane might just end up KILLING us!"

The effort of shouting so loudly finally overcame him as he sank onto the pillow, nauseous with the pain in his head. Sam must have seen him go a pale shade of green as she immediately stroked his shoulder softly with concern. She seemed to be thinking quickly, something Jack was in no shape to do at the present time.

"Urgo," Sam was careful to speak quietly and to only move slowly and gradually. "This has got nothing to do with understanding our emotions does it?" She didn't wait for a response before continuing – she didn't even look at him, her eyes fixed on Jack. "It's actually torture isn't it?" She risked swivelling her head to face the artificial image who was now sinking into the couch like a sullen child. "And this _is_ actually doing us some damage, right? The nature of these headaches is too specific, too reminiscent of some kind of intra-cranial swelling…"

Sam broke off as she heard Jack inhale sharply, either at her words or in pain. She swiftly turned back towards him, forgetting the pain in her head momentarily and looked meaningfully into his eyes. The shock in his face was evident, apparently he hadn't considered that their difficult reliving of the past could actually be physically harming them.

"She's right, isn't she Urgo." Jack's voice was ragged, and he still didn't look back to the couch, his eyes transfixed on Sam. "Of course you're right, you always are." He added quietly.

"Well, not _always_," Sam responded shyly. "There was that time-"

"That didn't count," he cut her off, amused she would remain so modest in such a situation. "Alien substance influence, remember?" He kissed her affectionately, smiling at the memory of one of the few times he'd proved her wrong.

Urgo was still sitting on the couch, although he now looked like he wanted to cry. "Alas, this is true." Urgo spoke into the cushion in front of him, unable to face the two people on the bed. "But I have persuaded Togar not to kill you, for now anyway."

"For NOW!" Jack jolted his head backwards before grabbing his head again as the pain increased almost exponentially.

"Shh. Sir, this is getting us nowhere." Sam whispered to him quickly before gingerly propping herself up, half-sideways, on a pillow so she could see Urgo without too much discomfort.

"It's ok Urgo, none of this is your fault." She ignored the muffled protestations coming from Jack. They really had no idea if Urgo was at fault in any way, but there was no sense in threatening the twittering wreck sitting on the couch. "I need to know how bad the damage is… is it just swelling from the over-stimulation of the nerve centres coupled with rapid neurotransmitter depletion or are we looking at something more permanent? I imagine you have access to the computer data..."

"Speaking of access," Jack jumped in to the conversation. "How do we know you're not just here because Togar wants something. I mean, he's watching us right now isn't he?"

Urgo suddenly sat up, his arms appealing to them, his eyes wide open. "No no, Colonel, I assure you. We are alone! Togar has deactivated me," he paused, the familiar mischievous glint returning to his eyes. "He doesn't know that when he deactivates me, I am still linked to the main computer systems. I have been learning all about its functions and am able to exist independently of him now."

Jack looked to Sam for her opinion.

"It's possible sir." Sam let out a long breath as she ran through the most likely hypotheses. "If Togar has at least one of these processors in his brain as well – as he must or else he wouldn't have been able to implant Urgo – well it's entirely likely that much of his consciousness exists in parallel to the computer systems running his facility."

Jack looked from Sam to Urgo, who was nodding frantically in accordance with what she was saying.

"Oooh so smart you are," he squealed excitedly. "So you see we are just talking among friends here!"

"Just because it's _possible_ doesn't mean you're not a lying sack of crap!" Jack retorted strongly, ever suspicious of the sneaky eyes now fixed on him. "How can you prove it?"

"I- wha- would I lie to you guys, my best friends?" Urgo pleaded pathetically.

"Oh no, it's not like you've _ever _done _that_ before." The sarcasm was dripping from Jack's voice.

"Urgo," Sam decided to interrupt before Jack blew a gasket. "If you really can access the computer, can you remove the security bar on the access panel in the corner?"

Urgo looked shocked that Sam knew where the control panel was. "Why would I do that?"

"Because if you don't I'll see that you're deactivated PERMANENTLY" Jack growled viciously. "Don't think I won't tell Togar what you're up to – and he'll be none too pleased!"

"Alright, alright." He paused for a moment, his eyes glassing over briefly. "It's done. You may now open the panel." Seeing the hesitation in Sam's eyes as she prepared to get off the bed, he hastily reassured her. "Your injuries are not permanent. The rapid firing of your neurons has caused a depletion in nerve reactivity and neurotransmitter concentration. This will heal with time, as will the swelling resulting from the aggressive stimulation of your memories." His voice was almost monotone, resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be able to 'play' with his 'friends' for the moment.

Sam cautiously rose from the bed, suppressing the urge to throw up as she was struck with an almost blinding pain. Steeling herself against the agony, she moved towards the wall to consult the now open panel. Her eyes were having trouble focussing on the panel as she struggled to remain standing. However the few moments she managed in front of the terminal before she had to flop back onto the bed confirmed a large part of what Urgo claimed.

"He not lying sir," Sam's eyes fluttered open to see a very concerned Colonel leaning over her at the end of the bed. She resisted the urge to kiss him – she daren't move yet, as the nausea was still present, but squeezed her hand in his. "Togar has deactivated him, and there is no data in relation to this room for the last 10 minutes or so – he must have deactivated the monitoring software, both in our heads and around."

Jack looked at Sam in wonder, she had hardly lasted two minutes – two minutes during which he was looking fearfully at a woman clearly in pain and struggling to stay upright – two minutes in front of an alien panel where she managed to get more information out of it than he could from his own computer in a week. He leaned down carefully and placed his lips softly on hers, whispering gently in between kisses. "You… are… amazing… … … let's… get… out of here." He pulled away slightly and saw her nod quickly at him, more determined than ever to from escape their hell to their future.

"Alright Urgo," Jack slowly turned his head back towards the couch, where it appeared Urgo was holding his breath in nervous anticipation. "Mind telling us _exactly_ what's going on and what we can do?"

* * *

Teal'c forced himself to remain stoic in spite of the fact that he was immobilised, face down, on what appeared to be very similar to the therapeutic tables used by chiropractors on Earth. An odd sensation of coolness on his back and the slight sting he felt indicated that there was probably a large needle on the point of breaking through. 

"I demand to know what you are doing." His cool voice resonated in the almost empty room.

"Ah good. You are conscious." Togar paused at the control panel to Teal'c's side. "I am performing what Urgo tells me is known as a lumbar puncture on Earth." I am extracting fluid from your spine to examine its biochemical properties.

"To what purpose?" Teal'c didn't know what the term meant, but felt it wasn't a good thing.

"Hopefully it will help me in my study," Togar murmured slowly as he continued with his manipulation of the control panel in front of him. The mechanical arm above Teal'c's back began moving again and the needle pierced his skin directly into his spinal column. "You are fortunate I have immobilised you." Togar commented distractedly. "Apparently this procedure can be quite painful."

Teal'c didn't respond, although he thought he heard a slight note of disappointment in Togar's voice at the fact that he wasn't inflicting pain. He remained completely still, looking at the floor below him, every muscle he could move tense, ready to react.

The mechanical arm retracted with the syringe now full of a murky substance. These contents were immediately funnelled in different directions to a set of machines Teal'c couldn't see on the wall behind him. Togar consulted the information in front of him intently, making adjustments and notes occasionally, his expression completely blank.

"Ah ha. It is as I thought." He manipulated a different section of the control panel and watched as the mechanical arm moved back towards Teal'c, this time with a smaller syringe, filled with a clear liquid, within its grasp. The arm descended towards Teal'c back and the syringe plunged into his back, divulging its contents into his spinal column.

"Now, let's try this again." With the smallest glide of his hand, Togar activated the processor within Teal'c's mind and watched as the Jaffa convulsed with the activation of his memories.

Teal'c felt an uneasy sense of calm envelope him briefly before the now familiar sensation of being pulled in every which direction struck. The nauseating sensation of having hundreds of images flash quickly before his eyes destabilised him before it finally stopped at the image of Tanith standing in front of him, conceited sneer on his treacherous face. Teal'c felt like someone had punched him, hard, in the chest while squeezing his symbiote at the same time. The anguish and fury was so intense he couldn't bear to be standing in front of the man who had killed his love and do nothing. He struggled against those restraining him, not hearing the protestations from the Tok'ra or the rest of his team. The image kept going back Tanith's sneering face as Teal'c felt the sheer volume and intensity of his feelings overwhelm him.

Again roaring with the injustice of the situation and the overpowering guilt he felt, Teal'c was abruptly snapped out of the memory. Blinking his eyes quickly, he tried to gain his bearings. There was an intense pain in the back of his head and he felt he would be sick at any movement or sound. Fighting to remain conscious, his breathing was in laboured grunts as he tried in vain to calm his usually manageable reactions. He felt the unusual sensation of tears welling in his eyes as the trauma overtook him. A sob escaped from his mouth as he saw, again and again, the image of the murdering goa'uld in front of him. The muscles in his face twitched dangerously with the effort to regain control, but it was to no avail. He descended into a darkness of despair, unconscious and trapped in his own never-ending nightmare.

"Much better," murmured Togar to himself. "The suppressant weakened him considerably. Although the neuronal damage is repairing much faster than for his companions, the effect was comparable." He looked around the room with a satisfied expression on his face. "This will make a satisfactory method of extracting information from both human and jaffa emotionally-burdened beings."

TBC

* * *

_A/N: Hey I know there's still a fair bit unexplained, but you all should have a fair idea of the danger now! Urgo's story coming up next time!_

_Also, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I was a biochemistry/pharmacology double major in my Science degree, which is where all the medical stuff comes from. The terminology I've used is all real, but not really accurate – although I'm sure there could be damage resulting from overstimulation and trauma in a particular centre of the brain, these are NOT actually at the base of the head, and swelling probably wouldn't result from this (but hey, it fits the story better). Also, a depletion in neurotransmitters would cause crazy mood changes (like in that season 4 ep where Daniel got suicidal – that was accurate of course) but I've chosen to ignore it so no-one can chalk the Sam/Jack moments up to that. _

_Also, (sorry this note is so long), lumbar punctures aren't really that bad – but they can be very painful if not done carefully… if you ever have to have one, insist they give you a local anaesthetic! _

_I love all your encouragement, so please don't stop now! _


	12. The Weapon

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long – my thesis supervisor is back and seems to think I haven't done enough work (which is true, I've been writing this instead!) so I had to do some serious writing… not nearly as interesting as doing this fic!_

_Also, I would have had this posted last night but my parents are still in London and were actually on one of the trains that was evacuated yesterday… they're fine and say the only thing that was strange was a really pungent smell… but I'll be very glad when they get back home next week!_

Starrgazer: _amazingly enough, you're the first person to mention the fact that SG1 had no memory when they return from Togar's clutches on the show. I was wondering when someone would mention it! I have indeed taken this factor into account and am pretty sure you'll like how I do their return to the SGC (hopefully in the chapter after this one)._

_Thank you in general to all your nice reviews, especially _Arrant Schemata, janissima, BookWorm37 _and _AthenaIceGoddess… _I can't believe everyone's sticking with this – especially since I've been having trouble updating as frequently as I would like!_

_Here we go again… _

* * *

Jack looked at Urgo expectantly, all the while not disengaging his hand from its comfortable grasp, his fingers intertwined with Sam's. He could feel the soft touch of her thumb as she absentmindedly stroked his. The effect was to soothe him greatly. Where in almost any comparable situation he would have Urgo pinned to the wall, instead he contented himself with a piercing glare – which was probably having the same effect.

Urgo was making small, nervous squealing noises as he tried to think how the explain everything. He recognised the look on Jack's face and practically shrank further into the couch in anticipation of an outburst. He looked to Sam, pleading with his eyes.

"Go ahead Urgo," Sam's eyes flitted to Jack's, aware that he was more than likely on the brink of losing it. "I promise we'll listen properly… won't we?" With her final words she challenged Jack to remain calm, catching his eye again and gripping his hand even tighter.

"Ok but I really didn't mean for anything bad to happen!" Urgo whined annoyingly. Seeing that Jack's expression wasn't going to soften any time soon, he began his story. "When I was implanted into Togar's head he immediately accessed the information I had gathered from you on Earth. You _scared _him." His eyes were wide, appealing to Sam and Jack to understand. "He monitored your activities and became even more worried! All these missions… the way you always escape… the fact that even in the face of incredible adversity you always come through, apparently unscathed…" He paused seeing the two people resting on the bed look downwards with modesty.

"We're just lucky I guess." Jack gave a perfunctory answer, his mind distracted by the thoughts of their missions over the past two years.

"Oh no, oh no!" Urgo hastily reassured them. "You are very talented to escape those _horrible_ situations! And luck would never have got you into them!" He saw Jack give a dismissive shrug in response and chose to continue. "As I said, your capability to triumph in the most trialling of situations strongly perturbed Togar… and the fact that you knew of this planet made you the most serious of threats."

"So why all this crap about understanding our emotions?" Jack asked languidly, "What the hell does he really want?"

"I'm getting to that!" Urgo squeaked, having jumped backwards with a jolt at the Colonel's words. "He really _did_ want to learn about your emotions at first! Before I was … made … when you arrived he sensed the differences between your species and his and so decided to monitor you." Urgo paused to look at them sideways, avoiding Jack's piercing gaze. "Your abilities convinced him he needed a method of defence against your kind… a weapon unlike any other… one _you_" he motioned to Sam, "wouldn't be able to diffuse. A method of defence _you_" he motioned to Jack, "wouldn't be able to get around."

"Oh God, this _is _the answer isn't it." Sam had lifted herself into a half-sitting position at the end of the bed, the pain in her head finally receding somewhat. Seeing the familiar baffled expression on Jack's face, she turned to him. "Psychological torture sir, but with the additional aspect of being able to make the subjects relive their worst experiences." She shivered unconsciously before turning to Urgo, her scared eyes looking at him through the veil of her ruffled hair. "I imagine his experiments have been successful?" she glanced at Jack, who was looking completely shocked. "I mean, we've been pretty knocked around. I'm sure he could have got any information out of us he wanted… and the side effects would probably kill us if the exposure was more long term."

Urgo looked down to the cushions in front of him, afraid to look at the people he had let down. "I'm so sorry. He would never have wanted to do this if I had just been destroyed when you returned the first time from the SGC."

"No Urgo." Jack spoke forcefully, now sure in his mind who the bad guy was. "None of this is your fault. But you can help us. We need to get out of here, and we need to get to Teal'c and Daniel."

Sam realised with a jolt that Daniel and Teal'c had probably been exposed to the same method of torture. "Urgo," she asked timidly, "They're ok aren't they?"

Urgo couldn't bring himself to meet Sam's eye. Just before breaking off contact with the main computer Togar had been preparing a particularly arduous experience for the Jaffa. He knew that if he was successful, Daniel's fate would be anything but assured.

"I'm disconnected from the main computer, so I don't know exactly what's happening…" he began cautiously, still not looking at either Jack or Sam.

"Urgo," Jack warned, his voice getting a hard edge of concern, "What do you _think_ is happening?" He felt Sam's tight grip on him and turned to give her a small reassuring smile, but his anxiety made it look more like a grimace. He brought her hand up to his mouth and placed a feather light kiss on her knuckles. "We'll get them out." He murmured quietly before Urgo spoke.

"They… Togar… Well Teal'c proved much more difficult to affect than you simple humans." Urgo finally managed to get a sentence out. He ignored the sounds of protest from Jack at the reference to 'simple' humans. "So Togar was going to try and make his brain chemistry more… pliable."

"He's going to drug him, sir." Sam's voice was cold, she could feel the anger rising within her at the thought of Togar's actions against them all. "It will more than likely work. His symbiote can only protect him from so much, and if Togar injected some kind of neuronal suppressant straight into his central nervous system, then Junior wouldn't be able to help."

Jack swore roughly under his breath, imagining the ways he wanted to make Togar feel pain – all sorts of pain. "But Daniel's ok, right?" He looked hopefully to Urgo. "I mean, he's just … _simple_ … like us – Togar doesn't need to do anything else?"

"I… well…" Urgo could see the look of barely concealed fear on Jack's face and couldn't respond.

"He's ok, _right_?" Jack asked again, this time urgently. "Carter? What's the deal?" He looked hopelessly at Sam for an explanation. Seeing the look of white horror on her face he felt his heart sink. What the hell was going on?

* * *

Daniel regained consciousness to find himself face down on a chiropractor's board. He could feel the pressure of invisible restraints on his body pinning him to the board, his only clue as his surroundings was the small view of the floor below him. 

"Well this can't be good." He muttered to himself, searching in vain for something significant in the smooth grey floor below him.

"Indeed for you it is not." A voice barked at him from behind somewhere. "Your friend Teal'c proved extremely useful to me. I now need to compare the results to an equivalent study of a simple human."

Before Daniel could think, speak, or have the faintest idea as to what was happening, he heard the chilling sound of something mechanical approaching. The sound was reminiscent of a dentist's tools. The cool breeze on his back made him realise that his spine was exposed. Realising that something was going to happen, he tried to tense his muscles in preparedness but remembered that yet again he was immobilised. Arching his back in his mind, but unmoving in reality, he felt a needle enter his spine through the fog of the anaesthetic effect of the paralysis. Immediately a sense of calm enveloped him and his mind became rather cloudy. Reality was mingling with the random thoughts that filled his head. The floor in front of him seemed to wobble slightly as he fought to keep him self fully awake and aware.

With the power of a heavy blow, he felt as if his limbs were being torn in every which direction. The grey floor in front of his face spun rapidly before his eyes to be replaced by a cascade of images following the same spiral pattern, causing him to completely lose his grip on reality. The images abruptly stopped, leaving him with an intensely dizzy feeling. His head started pounding with a specific jabbing near the base of his neck as the image in front of him focussed. He felt as if his heart was being wrenched from his chest as he saw the woman he once loved stand before him, her golden curls looking so healthy, in contrast with the sickening sight of the glowing eyes that indicated the goa'uld presence within her. He saw those eyes flash, again and again. He hadn't been able to save Sha're… she was dead. And now he was going to lose Sarah to this parasitic curse as well. The pain in his head increased exponentially as he cried out in anguish. Unable to exit the nightmare, he felt the sobs rack his immobilised body. Trying with all his might but unable to exit from this hell he felt the pain in his head filter from the base of his neck and around the side of his head until it felt like his whole brain was on fire. His eyes rolling in the back of his head he still couldn't purge the image of the goa'uld standing before him as he crashed into unconsciousness.

* * *

Sam ignored the still considerable pain jabbing into her head as she got up from the end of the bed and moved towards Urgo. Grabbing him by the shoulders she shook him slightly as she spoke. "We have to get out of here NOW! D'you hear me!" Her voice was full of emotion as she started shouting at him. "If Daniel's given the same concentration of drugs as Teal'c…" she looked wildly to Jack, who seemed to finally be grasping the situation – he had now risen to his feet and was pacing agitatedly at the base of the bed. "It could kill him almost instantly… while he's being tortured." The last words were barely audible as they exited her lips. She flopped down on the couch and fixed her eyes on Urgo's, aware that the tears welling would compel him even more to help them. 

"I know! I know!" Urgo wailed hopelessly. "That's why I've come here… I need your help – to help… you." He looked to them with hope. "I don't want you to die! I don't want Togar to succeed! I can't believe you left me here with him! That was such a horrible thing to do!"

Jack stopped and looked at the oversized potato, now shivering in the couch. He glanced at Sam worriedly, not knowing whether he should offer what he was about to. "Um Urgo… we don't remember in what circumstances we left you here last time… but if you manage to get these things out of our heads and get us back home, we'll try to take you with us."

He closed his eyes quickly after saying the words as a voice in his head started screaming at him about how he'd just doomed himself to years of insanity with Urgo around every corner.

"You would really do that?" Urgo looked at Jack with the utmost respect. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it." Grumbled Jack, flopping back on the bed and slamming his hand into his forehead, already regretting the offer. His chivalrous nature made him realise, however, that Sam and Daniel had been right – he was a sentient being, no matter how annoying, and didn't deserve to die just because he only existed within technology.

"Urgo," Sam felt almost as much dread as she could sense in Jack's defeated body at the prospect of years of Urgo, but tried valiantly to hide it. "We don't know how we'd do it yet – we don't want these processors in our minds anymore, and you can't exist to us without them. We just said we'd try."

At this comment Urgo seemed to have an epiphany as he literally jumped into mid air and off the couch. Sam jolted backwards in surprise before looking at Jack, who seemed mildly curious, although not so much that he would lift his head of the bed.

"Oh but this is fantastic! I know how I can go with you _and_ extract your microprocessors!" He looked cheekily to Jack, who seemed ready to listen to the alternatives to sharing his brain with Urgo for the rest of his life. "I can switch positions with Togar…" his voice took on a slightly sinister edge as he made the suggestion. "I can leave him trapped in the computer here and take his place."

Jack sat up at this possibility, the idea of confining their torturer in a series of machines, alone in his lab, was infinitely appealing. "You can do that?"

"Sir wait, I don't think we should." Sam couldn't believe she was saying it, but her experience with the entity made her very wary about such manipulation of body and mind. "I don't have any sympathy for this bastard," she added hastily, "but I just don't want to wish that kind of thing on anyone.

Jack felt himself sink into the bed slightly, remembering how Sam had essentially been through exactly what Urgo was proposing for Togar. Seeing the pained look on her face, he peeled himself off the bed with some effort and moved to the couch next to where Sam was now sitting, contemplating her hands. He tried vainly to ignore Urgo, who was hovering near the coffee table in front of them, squealing slightly with excitement at the prospect of leaving.

Sam felt Jack move closer to her and cup her cheek with one hand as he gently stroked her knee with another. Looking up slowly she saw his wide eyes filled with concern as he silently apologised for what had happened and what they may be forced to do with Togar.

"I don't want to do anything that you think is too much Sam," he said softly, gently rubbing his thumb on her cheek, relishing the feel of her soft skin nestling into his palm. "But look at what this guy's done to us – what he's doing to Daniel… don't you think-"

Sam cut him off mid-sentence. "You don't understand," her voice was rough and very quiet with the emotion. "Being _inside_ the computers… it was so horrible…" she found herself unable to speak again, remembering how everything had seemed so black – how everyone was so distant. How she was screaming but they didn't seem to hear her. She felt a lone tear streak down her face, she didn't want anyone to experience that, even if it was Togar. She felt Jack's arms wrap around her and pull her close. She rested her head against his chest before looking up at him as his mouth moved closer to hers.

"Huh hum."

The sound of Urgo standing not three feet away from them made Jack and Sam disengage their lips and move away from each other slightly.

"It's ok Sam. We'll do what you think is best." Jack whispered to her.

Sam looked into his eyes with overwhelming gratitude for his understanding. At the same time, she felt an increasing unease at the fact that they were essentially talking about Urgo's fate. Looking slowly to her side she forced herself to meet his eye. Seeing the pathetic look on his face, she felt her heart sink.

"Please?" Urgo's voice was high pitched and urgent in its tone. "I don't want to be here anymore… you're right – it's not fun being inside the systems. Let me get out."

Sam looked at him intently inwardly grappling with her conscience as she considered the possibilities. Realising with a start that Urgo was currently in the position she had so dreaded, she found her mind made up rather easily.

"Ok." Her voice was flat, but perfectly clear.

Urgo didn't seem to have heard her, he had a far off look on his face for a moment before he suddenly snapped back to attention and jerked forward abruptly.

"We must go now!" he squealed, making Sam and Jack jump. "He has started it! There is not much time! Dr Jackson is nearly gone!

TBC

* * *

_A/N: So there you go! The great escape (queue the music) is on! I won't have a chance to give it to you until next week though – I'm so sorry! I'm going up to the snow this arvo to get a nice bit of skiing in this weekend. (In Australia it's winter…) There's no internet up there so I'll be out of action until Sunday night._

_Please review so that I've got some nice messages waiting for me when I get back! I'll finish the story off ASAP then! I promise!_


	13. Bad luck

_A/N: Thanks to all again for the lovely reviews! Made for great reading when I got back from the snow! I'm still overwhelmed by how much people are enjoying the story… I thought I was onto something good, but you never know, ya know?_

_Thanks for the input, _Questionablelight_, as you will read in this I'm taking a slightly different direction… but in response, I think I hate Togar so much that there's no way I would be that nice!_

_Thanks for the compliment _jiltf… _as much as I love fluff… I like to have some kind of plot to place it in! For the moment it means there's less (although I still manage to have cute bits every now and then), but I promise there will be more before I hang up my writing gloves!_

_Oh and finally, _gatermage_, you have no idea how much my heart swelled seeing your words… gotta love the compliments (my thesis supervisor doesn't come up with them often)_

* * *

Both Sam and Jack simultaneously leapt from the couch at these words, ignoring the persistent yet dulled ache in their heads. Jack looked frantically from Sam to Urgo, back and forth repeatedly, before resting his gaze on the stocky man standing in front of him. 

"Ok but how are we going to do this? What about Togar?" he was frustrated at not knowing exactly what the situation was outside of their containment cell.

"I'll transport you to the experimentation room and see you there." Urgo spoke quickly, his gaze on the ceiling in deep concentration. "I am disabling Togar's wrist devices so he shouldn't be able to react quickly. However you will have to distance him quickly from the control panel and restrain him."

"And Daniel?" Sam's voice was shaky as she considered the possible meanings of the phrase 'Daniel Jackson is nearly gone'. She was looking so intently at Urgo she didn't realise Jack had been edging closer to her until she felt the welcome touch of his lips against her neck.

"We'll get there first and then figure it out, k?" Jack whispered into Sam's ear before turning her head towards his and kissing her softly. "Everything's going to work out… Danny, T… you and me." He looked into her eyes meanfully.

Urgo let them have this one last moment of intimacy before clearing his throat again, motioning towards the ceiling. "I'm going to do it now. You will materialise in front of Togar, you'll both have to swing around quickly to take advantage of the surprise."

With those words, Jack pulled away from Sam slightly, though clasping her hand in his. He gave her a nervous smile as they were enveloped by the now familiar white light.

* * *

Whatever Sam was expecting to see when they arrived in the so-called experimentation room, it wasn't an unconscious Daniel, face down on what looked like a chiropractor's bed with a menacing-looking metal contraption poised above his spine with an enormous needle hovering just inches from his skin. From the puncture wound and concentrated bruising, she postulated that Togar had in fact injected Daniel with the drug he had tested on Teal'c. She felt the shock hit her body with immense force, realising how he must have fallen unconscious and how his mind must be filled with incredibly painful images as the brain damage accelerated due to the effects of the drug. 

An angry growl behind her brought her back to reality. Turning quickly she saw Togar vainly trying to activate some controls attached to his wrist. Without looking at Jack, who seemed to have formulated the same plan inside his head, she moved swiftly around to Togar's left and wrested his hand behind his back, just as Jack did the same with their torturer's right hand. Both of them locked his shoulders painfully behind his back and frog-marched him to the wall, slamming him up against it with all the force he could muster.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS! INSOLENT HUMANS!" Togar roared angrily at them, trying in vain to twist his head around. The angle of his shoulders prevented him from doing so, as every attempt just sent searing hot shoots of pain up his neck. "UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGOOOOOOO!" he roared angrily, "I WILL DEACTIVATE YOU _PERMANENTLY_ FOR THIS!"

At this point Urgo materialised next to Togar, leaning casually against the wall of the room, looking supremely satisfied with the scene in front of him. He grinned wickedly at Sam and Jack, before leaning closer to Togar's face, confident of his safety.

"Hehehe… actually we were thinking of deactivating _you_!" he snickered, thoroughly enjoying the situation. He was impressed with the strength being displayed by both Sam and Jack, considering their ordeal of only mere hours ago. "How does life inside the computer system sound? Those pulsing electrical currents are mighty exciting." Urgo wriggled his eyebrows in an attempt to further provoke Togar, and was rewarded as the angry man struggled against Sam and Jack's hold again, only to cause himself even more pain.

"Urgo, great as this is…" Jack spoke between gritted teeth at the effort of keeping Togar pinned to the wall. The pain in his head seemed to be increasing with each moment, sapping his strength. "I don't think we can hold him much longer, and we need to help Daniel." He added, looking sideways at Sam, who seemed to be losing strength rapidly, her face was contorted with effort, or pain, or probably a combination of both.

"Oh right, oops!" Urgo's face scrunched up into a devilish grin as he mentally transported Togar from Sam and Jack's clasp onto the dentist-like chair across the room. He was restrained just as the members of SG1 had been, able to move his head and speak – indeed he was now roaring with frustration – but completely immobilised below the neck.

Sam and Jack collapsed against the wall, breathing deeply in an effort to regain their forces. Jack raised his arm with great effort to place in on Sam's shoulder and looked into her eyes, asking if she was ok. A small nod reassured him that she was. At the same time, they both slowly turned to face the centre of the room, supporting themselves by leaning heavily against the wall.

"He's still alive isn't he Urgo?" Sam's eyes were fixed on Daniel's motionless body. "How far did Togar get with the procedure?" She looked anxiously at Urgo, who was now deftly moving his hands around the exceedingly complicated control panel in the centre of the room.

"HAHAHAHA! There is no hope for your friend!" Togar's voice cut into the concerned atmosphere of the room. "The damage cannot be reversed! He is too weak – _pathetic_ human!"

"YOU! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jack roared across the room, using every ounce of energy in his exhausted body. He seemed to have the desired effect as Togar stopped, even if the piercing glare did not waver from his expression. Jack turned back to Urgo, surprised to see the man looking at him, mouth gaping. "What?" he snapped impatiently.

"You _swore_!" Urgo breathed in wonder.

"Oh for crying out loud." Jack mumbled under his breath, looking to Sam with an expression of complete exasperation on his face. "Why did we promise to bring him back with us again?" he asked her tiredly, rubbing his hand over his eyes.

Sam suppressed a small smile, but before she could redirect the Colonel to the situation at hand, a small, fragile voice caught both their attention.

"Actually Urgo, he does that quite a lot." Daniel's voice was barely audible, muffled both by the intense anguish that still clouded his mind and the bed he was lying on, face down.

"_Daniel!_" Sam and Jack rasped at the same time, before launching their tired bodies off the wall to move to his side. Jack stood next to the bed, placing a protective arm on Daniel's shoulder while Sam scooted under the bed and turned her face up to look at him.

"Oh God Daniel, we thought-" Sam's voice caught in her throat as she struggled to contain the relief overwhelming her.

"Yeah buddy, glad to hear your voice." Jack patted Daniel slightly on the back, careful not to do him any harm.

Daniel tried with difficulty to make sense of the situation around him. He forced himself to keep his eyes open despite the searing pain in his head. He focussed on Sam's face, which was covered with concern, to avoid seeing the image of Sarah, eyes glowing. Looking into her blue eyes calmed him slowly, he forced himself to take deep breaths, but the pain in his head wasn't subsiding.

"Sam, I'm going to throw up." He managed to get the words out and hold on until her face was no longer in the line of fire.

Sam moved out of the way just in time, but stayed down low so Daniel could still see her out of the corner of his eye. Looking past him to where Urgo was standing behind the panel, she called out to him.

"Hey, can we get whatever's restraining him offline?" Urgo didn't seem to hear her, his hands still moving sporadically across the panel, busily altering god knows what.

"It is probably best he stays in his current position for now." Urgo sounded uncharacteristically in control of the situation as his concentration remained on the instruments in front of him. "I have rehabilitated his brain function greatly, but the effects of the drug will not fully dissipate for some time yet."

Jack swung his head around to check that it really was Urgo and not Togar standing in front of the control panel. The murderous expression on Togar's face in the chair on the other side of the room reassured him, as did the squeal of delight that came out of Urgo's mouth as he pressed a final button on the panel before swinging around just as Teal'c appeared in a flash of white light.

"T! Buddy!" Jack exclaimed with delight, only to rush to the Jaffa's side as his large frame collapsed onto the ground, apparently incapable of making the smallest move. Jack struggled to lift his immense frame and drag him to the wall, propping him up. His head lolled languidly from side to side.

"Urgo! What's wrong with him?" Jack's voice was strained with concern, matching the expression on his face.

"The same thing that was wrong with you, O'Neill." Urgo replied with exasperation, growing tired of Jack's inability to grasp the facts as fast as Sam could. "He'll be fine."

"The traitor is lying to you!" Togar's voice again infiltrated the room, much to SG1's consternation. "None of you will survive! The effects will accelerate until your timely demise."

Jack leapt to his feet and spun around on the spot, ignoring the pain in his head. He marched towards where Togar was restrained and leaned menacingly over the alien. "I _TOLD _YOU TO SHUT UP!" he roared. Despite his intention to rant at the alien longer, Jack was forced to step back to clasp at his head, which was protesting to all the activity of the past couple of minutes.

"You see?" Togar smirked wickedly at Jack. "I have irreconcilably damaged your neuronal function."

"Shut up, SHUT UP!" Jack screamed, clasping his hands on his head to try and dull the pain. "Urgo, for the love of God GAG HIM!" With that Jack collapsed to the ground, clutching his head. Looking up slowly he saw Sam's eyes filling with tears as she looked from Daniel, to Teal'c to him.

Feeling the pain recede slightly in his head, he gained the strength to speak. "I'm fine Carter. We'll _all _be fine, right Urgo?"

"Yes yes yes," Urgo was intently reading something on the display screen in front of him. Togar's lying. His results here show that the effects will dissipate with time, although you must try to avoid exerting yourself, or you _could _make it worse temporarily." He glanced at Jack, who was still slumped on the floor, looking decidedly weaker than when they had transported into the room.

"Now I am currently trying to find your belongings to return them to you before we go back and then-" Urgo stopped suddenly. His face drained of all colour as he saw something on the screen. "Oh no." he looked wildly around the room, at a loss for words.

"What?" Sam's head had snapped up and she stood up, although her hand didn't move from where she had placed it, rubbing Daniel's back gently. "What is it?" She looked at Jack quickly, who seemed just as clueless as she was.

"They're coming." The sound of Urgo's voice resonated with fear, making Sam's heart skip a beat. Whoever 'they' were, it didn't sound good. With a sudden flash of light, Togar disappeared from the chair behind them and Urgo started working frantically on the control panel.

"I have to seal off this room, they mustn't be able to get in!" his hands were now shaking with fear as he worked, before suddenly the control panel started emitting small electric shocks.

"Who's 'they'?" Jack's voice sounded tired, resigned to their fate.

Urgo risked shock to press three more buttons before turning to Jack, clasping his burned hand against his chest. "The review panel," he breathed ominously. "They're here to examine Togar's results. We're safe, I've sealed the room… but now we're trapped in here."

TBC

_

* * *

_

_A/N: Ok I know, I'm sorry, it's getting more complicated and going on longer than expected! As usual, I've discovered that just because something is obvious to me, doesn't mean the same for the reader. Therefore, I have to be more detailed and the story gets longer! But anyway, since when does SG1 _ever_ get out of something according to the plan! Also, I've had their return to the SGC planned since I started this fic and I have to coordinate events on Togar's planet accordingly… they can't just stroll through the gate!_

_So… suspense music… how will our heroes escape from this conundrum? _

_Your comments are, as always, welcome and craved._


	14. Basculement

_A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Parents got back from Europe this week, boyfriend left to go back to France (for good, won't see him until Christmas when I go over there to visit), and it was all on the same day so a bit of upheaval in my life! Oh, and classes started again :-(._

_Thank you to everyone again for their reviews! They make me so happy (warm, fuzzy grin)! I know it was a bit of a mean cliffhanger for you all to endure so I made sure that I gave this chapter the detail and length I thought it deserved! Actually, I would have liked to make it two chapters, but hey… this works too._

_Thanks _Revvie-S _for your comment. I love doing the funny bits of dialogue but this fic has been so angsty that I've been struggling to find appropriate spots for it! I think that's why I spent so many chapters at the SGC before they actually went anywhere… (_"Senic? Sir? How much concrete can you want to see?"_ hehe). Thanks for your email too!_

_And to _janissima_, not that I want to spoil any aspect of the ending of this fic, but I would NEVER do that! I like them all too much! So rest assured for my fics…_

_Fyi, the title of this chapter is a French word that kind of means upheaval and/or change... but with a slightly different sense... it's hard to explain,sorry - Ijust thought it well described the chapter. Right, here's the next part… end suspense music!_

* * *

Togar welcomed the flash of white light that engulfed him. Sitting idly by while those insolent humans and the grievous 'error' that was Togar plotted against him had made him murderously irate. He didn't care where they were putting him, he would find a way to avenge their mutiny, but it would have to be better than trapped in that chair, watching helplessly as they defied his authority. His happiness was short-lived, however, as he rematerialised to see two familiar faces glaring at him darkly. 

"Ovar… Seego…" he stammered their names, aghast at the sight before him. "I was not expecting you for many hours." Togar felt himself edging backwards from the two men – identical in appearance to him but wearing different clothing – towards the wall behind him, subconsciously searching for an escape.

"Togar, it is indeed fortuitous that we have arrived ahead of schedule." The man on the left, a large 'O' embossed on his clothing, spoke.

"Undeniably fortuitous, I would think," contributed the man next to him, who was sporting a large 'S' on his clothing. "There have been concerns in the Association as to the efficacy of your experiments. We thought an impromptu visit would provide us with a vastly more accurate representation of your work."

"And indeed it has done so." Ovar took a menacing step towards Togar, who was now pressed against the wall. "Was it your intention to be overrun by the prisoners and your 'error'?" The tone of Ovar's voice was serious, but Togar could tell from his expression that the malicious overseer of scientific research was quietly plotting his downfall.

"You… I… you must understand…" Togar couldn't string the words together adequately with the piercing glares of Ovar and Seego trained on his face.

"SILENCE! FAILURE!" Seego swept his right hand over his left wrist and invisible shackles jumped out of the wall Togar was pressed up against to restrain and gag him. "WE HAVE NO TOLERANCE FOR FIASCOS SUCH AS THIS!"

Togar struggled against his restraints but it was to no avail. His eyes were wide open as he looked to the men in front of him, trying to communicate his situation. It was no use.

"We have come to shut down your operation." Seego's voice returned to its normal, cold, timbre. "The subjects will be terminated. Never again shall anything or anyone come through the great circle. It is too dangerous. Look what they have done even in controlled conditions! They could have overrun the entire Association!"

Togar tried to nod vigorously, in agreement with the overseers, but achieved only a slight tremor of the head. His eyes followed Ovar, who was moving to the wall to his left. He watched the man reveal the control panel hidden in the décor and stifled a snarling laugh at seeing him trying in vain to activate the computer functions.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ovar turned swiftly towards Togar. "I demand that you reactivate the controlling panel for this installation!"

Togar suddenly felt the invisible gag slide away from his mouth. Moving his lips in a circular motion to rejuvenate the blood flow, he let his mouth form a large, malevolent grin.

"It is not I who has altered the system, but the 'error' you so spoke of." He adopted a scolding tone of voice. "I told the Association of Urgo's potential but nobody believed me. Here is the proof that an 'error' such as he can vastly compromise our situation."

"THE ASSOCIATION'S DECISION IS FINAL!" screeched Ovar, astonished that such insolence could exit the mouth of a respected member of the Organisation. He calmed his voice, moving closer to Togar, who was still restrained, although now able to speak. "Your punishment for endangering our world through the use of the great ring was warranted. However now I see we should have terminated both you _and_ the 'error'. It is like a virus… it has _corrupted_ you." He spat the second last word out as if it denoted the most horrible fate that could ever become a human being. The look of disgust on his face made his opinion perfectly clear on the subject. "In fact," he looked to Seego briefly, who nodded, before continuing. "I think you _will_ be terminated with the 'error' and your test subjects. Yes, a most fitting end for a most unsatisfactory scientist."

Before Togar could protest, a white light engulfed him and he found himself, now divorced of his technological wrist devices, once again restrained in the chair in the experimentation room, with his four test subjects gaping at him in disbelief.

* * *

"Uh, Urgo?" Jack kept his voice light, as if he were asking the man to pass him the salt. "What's _he _doing back here?" 

Togar looked around him dejectedly, feeling impotent without his various technological devices. He looked angrily to the grey-haired man who had spoken and snarled at him before surveying the scene before him properly. With a start he realised that more had been taken from him than the wrist bands that had been fused to his skin. He could no longer see Urgo in the room.

"I do not know of what you speak," he growled, vainly hoping the human was playing with his head. "Urgo is not presently in this chamber."

Sam looked up sharply at Urgo in shock and surprise. She saw Togar looking blankly in the direction of the control panel in the middle of the room, but he seemed to be looking straight through the man standing at the station.

"You can't see him anymore?" her voice was breathless with amazement at the possibility that Togar could have been altered in such a way by whoever 'they' were. "But he existed within your implant…" her voice trailed off as she tried to make sense of the situation.

"Oh my, they've completely disassociated him!" Urgo looked aghast and thrilled at the same time. "I am finally free of his control!"

Jack looked from Urgo to Togar in amazement. "So what, like you've been punished for losing control?" he asked Togar tentatively, knowing the alien could explode with rage at any moment. "They've taken all your techno-thingies away?"

"Exactly!" Urgo screeched from the middle of the room.

Togar, for his part, merely deepened the scowl he was directing at O'Neill. He had prepared a retort but saw the soldier's attention redirect to the middle of the room and assumed that Urgo was in fact speaking.

"The only reason you can see me is that he'd deactivated me and I'd taken refuge within the main computer systems of this place, I've configured your microprocessors so you can see me!"

Daniel had been slowly lifting his head out of the hole in the bench he was laid on. Looking at his own vomit on the floor was doing more harm than good. He shifted to his side, with some effort and help from Sam, so that he was now looking at Urgo.

"So that's why we don't need those attachments that Togar used before?" seeing the confused look on Jack's face, he quickly explained. "Before when Togar still had control, he put something above my ear, saying it let me 'perceive' Urgo."

Urgo nodded, having now returned his attention to the screens in front of him. His expression became increasingly concerned before in a moment, all the muscles on his face relaxed and he looked around the room, satisfied.

"We're getting out of here!" he beamed at the people in the room who could see and hear him. "We've just got to give Teal'c some time to recover consciousness and then I can make the arrangements." Seeing Sam looking intrigued by this developments, he grinned at her. "Come over here and I'll show you, Major," his tone was light-hearted and warm, he was immensely enjoying helping SG1. "When I locked us in here I purposefully didn't bar any transfers _into_ the room. I hoped they would try to transport in to retake power of this facility. In that moment, a weakness would be created whereby I would safely be able to extend the protection field that is preventing them from manipulating our systems or transferring us out of here."

"So that's what you've done?" Jack was now sitting against the wall where Teal'c still lay unconscious, his eyes flitting from Urgo to Togar, who was looking murderous with silent rage. He ignored him. "You've extended this field-thing? Where to?"

"Ah, Colonel," Urgo grinned before motioning again at the control panel. Sam was now standing beside him, leaning over the controls, fascinated by the complexity of the systems. "Within our protective 'bubble' we now have the room where the stargate resides, and also the room where overseers were situated."

"So these… _overseers_… they're the ones that took Togar's implants away?" Daniel was scrunching his eyes up with the effort of concentrating.

"Is that _wise_?" Jack's eyebrows shot up, nearly touching his hairline in mock horror. "They're obviously not here to _help_ us after all…"

Urgo grimaced slightly and tilted his head from side to side, as if weighing up the pros and cons of his decision. "It's true, they can move freely about the containment area, but I have deactivated all their sources for power and they will not be able to alter any of the computer systems." He made a few final adjustments to the panel in front of him before moving away from it finally with a purposeful step. "It doesn't matter. We'll be gone before they figure out what's happened."

Sam stood still where she was in front of the panel and looked intently at Urgo, puzzled. "Um, Urgo? How?"

Urgo didn't understand the sense of Sam's question. "What do you mean? You of all people shouldn't need me to explain exactly how the stargate works!"

Sam shook her head slightly, aware that she was about to cause a great disappointment to the man standing in front of her. "That's not it, Urgo. You said you'd remove our microprocessors… but if you do that, how will you come back with us? Togar doesn't have one anymore… you can't 'swap' with him…" To her surprise, Urgo merely grinned.

"Of course not, I will take one of the overseers' physical forms." He rolled his eyes as if this solution were the most obvious thing in the world. "Stop worrying and come with me to get your possessions – I've had to deactivate the transport mechanism so we'll have to walk there."

Before he could walk through the door in the corner of the room, however, it slid silently open and two men, identical in appearance to both Urgo and Togar, burst into the room brandishing P-90s.

* * *

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE! Insolent humans!" Both the Urgo/Togar clones boomed, waving the guns around in a sporadic manner. "We know your weapons can cause great damage. You would do best to stay put." The one on the left added menacingly. 

Jack looked at the two men who had entered the room with surprise. They obviously had no training whatsoever in combat because they hadn't even looked around them properly.

"Togar said there were four of you." One of the men growled, "I only see two, plus the 'error'."

Before Togar could alert the men to the presence of Jack and the still-unconscious Teal'c against the wall behind them, Jack pounced on the one closest to him, and with a swift upwards action with his fist, cracked the man's jaw while simultaneously kneeing him in the groin to disarm him. He expertly grabbed the gun from the man who was now crouched over in agony and pointed it to the other one.

"Ovar!" the man who was still armed screeched in astonishment. "You let yourself be overpowered by a degenerate such as this!" While he spoke, he lunged forward at Sam and grabbed her by the arm, twisting it behind her and positioning himself behind so she acted like a shield between in and Jack. "Shoot at me and I _will_ kill her!" he snarled aggressively.

Jack looked hopelessly at Sam, not knowing what to do. Seeing her wincing with pain he felt as if his chest was filling with lead. The weight of seeing her in such a dangerous predicament meant he could barely breathe, but he knew he had to keep the gun aimed on the man in front of him. He knew that if it came to it, he would have to shoot.

"Well… done… Seego…" Ovar gasped from his crouched position on the ground. "These two have great … emotions … towards each other. He will not shoot."

Sam struggled indignantly against Seego, who, although shorter than her, had a tight grip. "We're soldiers before anything else," she fired back to Ovar. "He _will_ shoot if necessary." She locked eyes with Jack and realised that what she had just said was probably not true. She could see the anguish in his eyes as he led an internal battle between his soldier-instincts and his feelings for her.

A sudden change in the look on his face was the first clue that something was going on. His gaze shifted from her and Seego to over her shoulder, where she knew Daniel was on the bench. She cocked her head slightly, silently asking him what was going on, but to Jack's credit, he merely returned his attention to her and her captor, pretending nothing was going on.

What came next was so fast that Sam barely had time to see it before they were running out the door. Daniel had gotten up and was sneaking up behind her, holding the large metal contraption that had been hanging over the experimentation table where he lay. Unaware of this, Sam saw Ovar's eyes widen in shock and she heard him take in a sharp breath, ready to shout a warning to Seego when suddenly a great flash of dark skin moved behind Jack and pounced on the Urgo/Togar clone. That split second of action allowed Daniel to tackle Seego to the ground before kicking his gun away from him. Sam whirled around just in time to see Daniel fall to the ground next to the alien, clutching his head and breathing heavily into the ground. Sam quickly picked up the P-90, grabbed Daniel by the arm and started running to the door, following Urgo, Jack and Teal'c who were already in the next room.

* * *

"Urgo!" Jack boomed, all the while running through a corridor, "We need to leave – NOW!" 

Urgo was running ahead of them, leading the way through the labyrinth of rooms. "Ok, ok." He made a complicated hand gesture towards the ceiling and, in a flash of white light, the team found themselves in a large chamber, once again wearing the full outfits they had had when they first came through the gate.

Startled to have suddenly arrived in another location again wearing all their military-issue equipment, all four of them stopped for a second in confusion. Sam looked up to Urgo in surprise, realising that he must have turned the security systems off.

"Wasn't that a bit risky? Anyone could be getting into the facility now." She looked at the other members of her team who were subconsciously exploring their vests to check that everything was present. She caught Jack's eye briefly and nodded to him, indicating she was ok. He had raised his eyebrows and was moving towards her nevertheless.

"They would have gotten in soon anyway." Urgo spoke quickly, and moved behind yet another console that seemed to control the computer systems. "I will hold them off until you are back home safe… we just need enough time to remove the chips."

Sam snapped her eyes away from Jack, who had reached her side and protectively placed a hand on her arm. "But what about you? Aren't you coming with us?" As much as she hated the idea of using another's body as a 'host', and as much as she dreaded more regular contact with the annoying man, she didn't want to see Urgo stay on Togar's planet.

"There's no time." Urgo stopped what he was doing momentarily and looked at her and Jack intently. "None of what has happened is your fault. It's Togar's. I won't give up but the most important thing is for you to get out of here before the entire Association arrives."

"Urgo, we'll figure something out-" Daniel began, from his corner where he and Teal'c were standing – with difficulty.

"No Daniel." Urgo was firm. "It's alright. I have learned a lot with you people here. There is a greater cause than my happiness, and I want to make sure this kind of horrible exploitation of other species never occurs again."

Jack looked at Urgo with renewed respect. "Well buddy…" he began, unsure of what to say. "I guess thank you…" He looked at Sam, who had an increasingly melancholy expression on her face. Interlocking his fingers with hers, he brought her hand up to his mouth and placed a light kiss on the back of her hand. She looked up at him and smiled weakly in return, causing his heart to warm slightly.

"Oh, Urgo… another thing." Jack was trying to ignore Teal'c's raised eyebrow in the corner. He could have done without Daniel's smug grin upon seeing such affection between him and Sam as well. "Can we keep our memories this time?" He glanced at Sam, realising that he never wanted to forget what he'd learned in the past couple of days, despite the torture of arriving at the understanding they'd reached.

Urgo's face cleared from its serious expression into a knowing smile. "Of course!" He started working frantically again. "Usually the removal of the microprocessors incorporates the eradication of your memories of this place, so I will have to change the system and treat you individually… but it can be done."

A large bang resonated from the far-off distance, causing everyone in the room to jump. "Hurry, we must begin now!"

Jack gave Sam a small push in the back and indicated for her to step up to the platform Urgo was pointing to. She moved quickly and felt the not-unpleasant penetrating lasers remove the microchip from her brain. With a strange zapping-popping noise, Urgo disappeared from view in front of her. Looking around to Jack, she nodded at him before stepping off to allow him access.

Just as Urgo disappeared from Jack's field of vision, the sound of angry voices reached their ears. The members of the Association were getting closer to their position.

"Jack!" Daniel shouted. "Urgo says we have to go!" He's got to remove my and Teal'c's chip quickly and then we'll be directly transported and sent through the gate – cover the door!"

Sam and Jack both clutched their P-90s and positioned themselves on either side of the only door that seemed to lead into the room. They could hear the sound of approaching footsteps as strange white lights penetrated Teal'c and Daniel's skulls at the same time, before…

* * *

"-illy?" Teal'c stopped to look around him as they arrived in the gate room. Puzzled, he addressed the General, who was standing in the middle of the room, looking immensely relieved "General Hammond, did we not just leave the SGC?" 

Before General Hammond could respond – before anyone could say anything – all four members of SG1 collapsed onto the ramp, unconscious.

* * *

_A/N: So they're home! Yay! We're almost at the end of the fic… I'd say one, _maybe_ two chapters left… _

_Oh, and the "-illy?" bit refers to what Teal'c was saying when the left the SGC … just like in the episodes on the show where they come back through the gate as if no time whatsoever had passed. _

_Don't all jump on me about the memory/time thing, I have a plan (you'll probably guess it – I'm not that complex)… just wait until the next instalment (a big ask, I know, but it's the weekend so I should be able to get it out pretty quick)._

_In the meantime, please let me know what you think! You know I love seeing the email alerts!_


	15. Memories

_A/N: I'm sitting in front of the TV with my laptop watching the rugby – NOT my choice. What else to do but write my fic? So this makes for quite a speedy update, but unfortunately the last one, as I've finally reached the end of my story (sniffles). _

_Thanks for the reviews… especially from my new readers! Thanks for the kind references to my characterisations! Glad people aren't daunted when they see the tens of thousands of words and many, many chapters! But then I guess this fic is peanuts compared to some of the novels out there!_

_Here you go... for what may be the last time for a while... (cue the Von Trapp family singing Eidelweiss...):_

_

* * *

_Janet looked over the vast corpus of images that were now spread not only on her desk, but on every inch of available space in her tiny office. The walls, windows, door and floor had relinquished their usual character to be covered by the magnified images of SG1's brain scans. Looking over them carefully for the smallest grain of inconsistency that could indicate the presence of a microprocessor in any of the images, she tried to ignore the glaring evidence of damage that had been inflicted on them in their short time off-world. Her eyes glossed over an image as again she saw the evidence of intracranial swelling. Looking to the top right corner of the image she saw it was Teal'c scan. The most frightening aspect of these injuries was that they were also present in the Jaffa – even he hadn't proved impervious to whatever they were subjected to. She flitted her eyes to the computer monitor beside her again to recheck their test results. Sighing and shaking her head while massaging her temples, she fought to imagine what could have caused their brain chemistry to have been so depleted, and how this could have contributed to the intense swelling around the base of each of their skulls. 

"Dr Fraser," a deep baritone voice filled the room and caused Janet to jump in fright. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." General Hammond smiled apologetically at the woman who was perched on a swivel-chair in the middle of the room – the only part of the room that didn't seem covered with scan images. "I was told you had some preliminary findings?"

Janet let out a heavy sigh and stood up carefully before picking her way through the chaos of her office to talk more easily with the General. She leant against the doorframe for support, not knowing how he was going to take the news.

"None of them have regained consciousness, sir." She began, her eyes redirecting their attention momentarily to the four unconscious people in the infirmary. "They're all suffering severe intracranial trauma that seems to be linked to a general depletion in their neurotransmitter levels, but it's really beyond me. I have no idea how one could cause the other… or what could have even started it."

"Will they recover?" General Hammond tried to conceal the shock in his voice. It had already been 4 hours and none of them had woken up. Although it wasn't uncommon for his teams to arrive back from off-world in a pitiful state, for all four of them to appear so close to being in a coma-like state was incredibly foreboding.

"To be honest, sir, I really don't know." Janet hoped they would, but was wary of giving anyone false hopes at this point. "It looks like Sam and the Colonel's damage isn't as extensive as the other two – but then there is evidence of increased neurotransmitter production." Seeing the blank expression on the General's face, she tried to reformulate so he could understand. "It's possible that their conditions were as bad as Teal'c's and Daniel's, but that they've begun to heal. If that's the case, then I don't see why they shouldn't continue to improve, or why the same won't happen for the other two."

"So it may just be a matter of time?" there was a glimmer of hope in the General's expression.

"Sir, I hope so." Said Janet, moving fully into the infirmary to check all their vitals. "You say they had no memory of their time on Urgo's planet – again?" She had paused, standing between Sam and Jack who looked to be peacefully asleep on their respective gurneys.

"It appears so, Doctor." Hammond replied gravely, also moving from his position, although this time towards the door. "From what we gathered during our communication with the hostile alien, they may have been tortured. Perhaps it's just as well that they don't remember."

"Yes sir." Janet watched the man exit the room, looking older than he had done a couple of days ago. Turning to face the motionless bodies on the beds before her, she too felt years older than she had been just the week before. Seeing her friends constantly in such a pitiful state made her wonder… "Why do you all do it to yourselves?" she murmured to herself. "One of these days I'm not going to be able to fix you – hell, I can't even fix you now!"

"Aw, C'mon Doc," a familiar voice wheezed at her, "you know we just like spending time here… the needles…" he coughed hoarsely, "…the relentless badgering… it's what we live for!"

Spinning around so fast she thought she was going to topple off her heels and onto the ground, Janet turned to face the Jack, who was looking deathly pale, but had his eyes open and was attempting what she imagined should have been a laconic smile. Instead his mouth formed a lop-sided grimace, but from his tone of voice, she knew what the sentiment was.

"Colonel!" she exclaimed, rushing to the intercom in the corner of the room. "Tell General Hammond the Colonel is awake!" She screeched into it before summoning a nurse who had been sorting supplies in the corner of the room to come help her.

In between checking various aspects of Jack's health, Janet spoke excitedly but quietly, conscious that he would probably have an acute headache from the swelling in his skull.

"God I really thought we'd lost you this time…" she checked his pulse for the fourth time, reassuring herself that all was fine. "When you all just collapsed like that on the gate ramp…" the pen-light that travelled everywhere with her flashed into his eyes, causing him to jerk his head away from her. "And not knowing what had happened to you…" She stopped all her checks, satisfied that he would survive, and stepped back to look at him in triumph. "At least it appears the microprocessors have gone – and they haven't implanted any new ones I don't think… well I couldn't find them and if you looked at my office you'd know I've been trying!"

Jack fought to focus his eyes on the petite woman standing in front of him. His head felt clouded with pain as the dull ache in the base of his head lingered, causing his ears to ring slightly. The flashes of light Janet had insisted on inflicting him with had caused him to lose focus and he was having trouble re-training his eyes on her.

"Sweet. It worked." He said quietly, before flopping his head back on the pillow, a warm contented feeling growing over him as he realised that their nightmare was finally over.

Janet caught relieved tone in Jack's voice and began to wonder. Taking a step towards him, she caught his attention before asking the direct question. "Sir, do you remember what has happened to you in the last couple of days?" Perhaps with their brain-tissue regenerating they would regain their memories, she thought to herself.

"Unfortunately we have not retained our memories, Dr Fraser." A deep voice filled the room from the far left of where Janet was standing to indicate Teal'c had regained consciousness. "I am aware only of leaving Stargate Command through the Gate and returning immediately before collapsing with an intense pain in my head."

Thrilled as Janet was that Teal'c was apparently on his way to recovery – and much faster than any of the others, given the severity of his case of brain damage – she couldn't ignore the tone of voice she had Jack use in his statement.

"Colonel?" she persisted, "Do _you_ remember anything?"

Jack froze, his mouth half open, looking over in Teal'c's direction and back to Janet. Thinking of the past couple of days, he could barely contain the pain and elation that filled him simultaneously. Reliving the most horrible memories of the past two years, which in turn brought back older wounds from his time at the SGC and before… he didn't want to drag all that up in some mission report. And then there was Sam. The magnificent sensation of finally realising how he felt about her – how _she_ felt about _him_. He could hardly put that in his report either. Faced with the questioning look on Janet's face, he made the split-second decision to lie.

"Nnnooo," he said cautiously, wondering if she was going to buy it. "But whatever happened, our plan worked – no more chip things in our heads, right?"

A suspicious look flashed across Janet's face but she must have either dismissed or suppressed it for her mouth formed straight line of resignation. "Well, I guess that's something." She threw the comment over her shoulder while heading over to Teal'c to check his recovery.

* * *

Jack was becoming increasingly worried, he had been awake for what seemed like an eternity – even if the nurse said it had only been three hours – and Sam was still lying motionless next to him. Daniel was still unconscious as well, but then he had been subjected to more than just psychological torture – there was the question of that drug Sam had been talking about. 

He craned his neck again to look past the annoying curtain next to him and laid his eyes on Sam's seemingly-peaceful face. Looking furtively around him to make sure that he was alone in the room with his team – apparently the evil nurse had gone on a minion's errand somewhere – he struggled to shift onto his side and reach his arm out to touch Sam's hand. His heart nearly broke when there was no reaction. Her hand was too cold, and there was a clammy aspect to her skin. It wasn't healthy. He felt the fear rise up within him as horrible possibilities flashed across his mind.

"C'mon, Sam" he whispered carefully, aware that Teal'c was only metres away. Even if he was in kel'nor'eem, Jack was never sure if he really disconnected from the world as if asleep. "Wake up!" his whisper was all the more urgent as he heard footsteps approaching the room. With a colossal effort, he hoisted himself back up onto the gurney properly – leaning over to reach Sam's hand had entailed hanging precariously over the empty space that was between them, trying in vain not to fall into the abyss. Looking towards the doorway he saw Dr Fraser come marching purposefully back into the infirmary, followed closely by General Hammond.

"Sir," Jack nodded to the General, his tone of voice was flippant. "Two visits in one afternoon… to what do I owe the honour?"

General Hammond contained his amusement at seeing Jack obviously exasperated at being immobilised. "Just checking in on my best team, Colonel." His eyes surveyed the room quickly. "Still nothing from either Major Carter or Dr Jackson?" He knew the answer to the question before Jack even responded – if there had been any change he'd have known about it.

Janet, in the meantime, had been moving closer to Sam's side, spying something strange on her readouts. Motioning for the nurse who had appeared to come closer, she reached for the penlight in her breastpocket and leant in closer.

"Sam?" she lifted her eyelids and shone the light on her pupils, which reacted. "Can you hear me?" She felt her pulse and looked quickly to Jack. "Did anything happen while we were away? Did she move at all? Was there any change?"

Jack looked at Janet with horror, not knowing what was wrong with Sam. "N… no…" he spluttered, "I just talked to her, told her to wake up." He looked nervously to General Hammond, "That's ok, right? I mean, people say to talk to coma patients and all that."

"It's fine Colonel," Janet had finished checking whatever it was she was checking and perched on the end of Sam's bed expectantly. "Whatever you did," she paused and looked at him, "it's brought her closer to us. Her brain activity is now akin to being in asleep, she should wake up when she's ready."

"Jeez. Give a man a heart attack!" Jack flopped his head back onto the pillow behind him in relief. "You had me thinking…" he looked meaningfully to Sam's face and was astonished to see that although her eyes were closed, her lips had curled upwards into a smile.

"Nah, I can't go anywhere until I've finished with the interstitial conversion helix SG12 found last week."

Although her voice was hoarse, Jack could understand every word she said and found himself almost laughing at her comment. "I won't pretend I know what that means Carter, but it's good to hear your voice." He had kept his tone of voice as neutral as possible, but his eyes were now boring into hers and he was struggling to control the tears that were forming and threatening to fall down his cheeks.

"Sam," Janet began gently, trying not to startle her patient. "Do you remember anything that has happened?"

Sam was still looking at Jack and was surprised to see the sudden change in his expression. His eyes widened sharply and he quickly mouthed a silent 'No' while shaking his head almost imperceptibly. She could have sworn Janet's eyes flitted over to look at him, but couldn't be sure.

"I… uh… well…" Sam was completely confused, and to make matters worse her eyes didn't seem to be working properly – she was finding it impossible to focus. "…no… I don't think so." She saw Jack's face relax in relief, and frowned at him, completely confused. "What happened?" she asked the question in a general sense but was still looking intently at Jack.

"Oh y'know," he smiled at her, hoping she could accept lying to the others about their memories until he had a chance to talk to her. "To us it seems like we came back from Urgo's planet just as we left here… but apparently we'd been gone a couple of days, had the microprocessors removed and sustained some serious trauma – hence the waking up in the infirmary."

"Daniel? Teal'c?" she swivelled her head to look at Janet, who was still sitting on the end of her bed.

"Teal'c's fine," her voice was soothing, "and although Daniel's not quite out of the woods yet, he should recover just like you."

"Good to see you back with us Major," General Hammond was still standing in the doorway, but began turning to leave the room. "Dr Fraser, let me know if there is any change."

* * *

Jack walked into his house and precipitated immediately to the heating control systems. Over a week absent in the middle of winter… he was surprised there weren't small icicles forming on the ceiling – or large ones for that matter. Walking towards the fridge he realised there would in all probability be nothing in there. He turned to the cupboard instead and fished out a couple of large cans of Guinness and placed them carefully on the bench. 

"Preparing a healthy meal, sir?" A familiar voice teased, "And to think Janet doesn't trust you to take care of yourself – where on _Earth _would she have got that idea?"

Sam was standing in the archway that separated his kitchen from the hallway, looking tired and pale, but generally ok. Jack grinned at her sheepishly and held a can up, offering it to her. He was stunned to see her reach her hand out to accept it and move towards the living room to sit down, waiting for him to follow.

"So… to what do I owe this visit?" Jack sat down uncomfortably on the couch next to Sam, struck by the strangeness of his voice.

"Wanna tell me why we're lying to the whole SGC?" Sam was straight to the point with the question she had been dying to ask him since the minute she had woken up in the infirmary nearly a week beforehand.

"To lure you to my house, obviously." Jack quipped, hazarding a grin before composing himself to answer honestly. "Ummm… I really don't know. When I woke up Teal'c already told them we had no memories and well, I just supported his story." He shrugged, not really knowing what else to say, unsure of how Sam was feeling after their ordeal.

"So… you remember everything that happened?" Sam's voice had grown incredibly quiet and her breath was shaking. Janet had given her and Jack the all-clear from the infirmary that afternoon. Teal'c had been free from the drab room since the day she had woken up, but Daniel was still confined there, having only woken up that morning. Instead of heading home, or even stopping in her lab, she had found herself on the road, heading towards Jack's house, only a couple of hundred yards behind his truck on the road.

She had seen him enter the house just as she rounded the corner into his drive, but amazingly he didn't see her. Sitting there looking at him now, she felt her heart in her throat as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened. The torture at Togar's hands, the wonderful feel of his warm embrace around her and the touch of his soft lips on hers, the anguish of having to leave Urgo behind… and then the incomprehensibility of ignoring it all and pretending she knew nothing of their injuries. She had watched Janet try to determine exactly what was wrong with them, without being able to help her. Sam knew Jack. She trusted him implicitly and so didn't consider 'letting the cat out of the bag', but she was starting to wonder. Her greatest fear, irrational as she knew it was, was that he actually didn't remember, that she had imagined the urgency in his silent language in those first few moments of her consciousness – everything had been rather hazy after all. Maybe she was the only one who knew of what there could be between them.

"You and I… Urgo made sure we'd still have our memories." She was almost pleading with Jack. "He didn't have time to do the same with Daniel and Teal'c – those Overseers were closing in on us – but _we _have our memories, right?"

Jack realised that Sam had spoken again and shook himself out of the bubble he was in. "Of course I remember." He leaned over and pulled her into his embrace, resting in turn in the comfortable corner of the couch. He waited until she turned her head to look into his eyes before lowering his lips onto hers and kissed her passionately, letting the relief and joy of being alive, well, and home safely transmit into their embrace. "I just don't think telling the SGC about (a) the time-loop and (b) our current behaviour, is the best idea – so it's probably better just to avoid questions by sticking with T and Danny's story."

Sam had turned fully around and was now resting her head comfortably on his chest. She didn't know how, but somehow it felt as if everything was going to be alright. She felt safe in his house, on his couch, in his arms, and yet she knew that the minute they had stepped back through the gate everything had changed. They were no longer prisoners, removed from all the rules and regulations of their positions at the SGC. She looked up to see Jack staring at her with a strange expression on his face, as if he were in some sort of mild discomfort.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She looked at him fondly, now resting her chin on his chest so she could look at him comfortably. "So where does that leave us?"

Jack cocked his head slightly and looked at Sam with consternation. He knew what they should do – stop, seek a transfer, anything – but couldn't bring himself to even consider changing what they had together. "Well, Carter…" he began playfully. "At the moment you're lying on top of me on my couch, with no distractions and orders from General Hammond _not_ to return to the base for at least three days." He had slid his hand under her blue sweater and was now tracing his finger up and down her side, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. "So I say we just play it by ear."

Almost before he had uttered the words Jack had grasped Sam's shoulders and pushed her onto her side so they were both lying, face to face on the couch. He closed the distance between them and began kissing her passionately, this time not allowing her to interrupt. Without parting his lips from hers, he lifted her up, ignoring the pain in his back and knees, and moved awkwardly towards the bedroom. He only knocked her head and feet against the walls very lightly as he reached the room and practically dropped her onto the bed, following her down instantly.

The momentary lapse in their contact allowed Sam the opportunity to respond. "And then what?" She wanted him so much she couldn't have put it into words if she had tried. She wanted him so much she didn't want to fathom living without him always by her side – in the way they'd denied themselves for the previous five years. "What happens next?" She insisted, lifting her hand up to fend him off until he gave a satisfactory answer.

"I don't know," Jack began, his eyes locked in hers, "But I love you... and that's enough for me." He wanted to swoop down on her and kiss her again. He wanted to tug at the fine wool of her sweater to reveal the soft skin underneath, but he held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

"Me too… oh God me too… I love you too…" Sam snapped out of the trance she had been in looking into Jack's eyes and grabbed his head to pull him closer. She let all the uncertainties wash away as she finally let herself succumb to the temptation that had been plaguing her for years.

FIN

* * *

_A/N: Ok I know there'll be some people wishing I'd gone on with the fluff – but I felt the cheese factor had already exceeded recommended levels (and possibly even dangerous ones)…_

_I know I said there may be two chapters... but it would have been too anti-climactic in terms of action to go on for much longer... I know I didn't really analyse their return to the SGC much – but then considering "none" of them remember what happened on Urgo's planet (points go to _Stoko _for guessing that one correctly!), there wouldn't have been. Still, there is a window for a sequel (save Urgo maybe, or at least a bit with Janet confronting Jack and Sam about her suspicions)… but I'd need to think about it long and hard. I don't think it would be a cohesive as this fic and so I'm really hesitant._

_On a final note, before I bid you all farewell, thank you for reading, thank you for your comments, and thank you for ignoring the plot holes and anomalies that have appeared! Please let me know what I could do to improve my fics in the future! I'm still pretty new at this and willing to learn (just be nice... my ego is apt to be flattened)_

_Ciao_

_Albi_

_P.S. The "interstitial conversion helix" is a reference to a British sketch comedy 'Dead Ringers' where they do a GREAT impression of Dr Who (the term refers to the London Eye. If you have a spare minute and want to see how someone has wasted a lot of time, type 'interstitial library' into a google search – it's completely random._

_P.P.S. I'm not in the business of writing songfic's, but if anyone likes doing them, then you should check out an Aussie song called "All for Believing" by Missy Higgins (you may have to download it from the net if you're not downunder)... apart from the fact that she sings with an Aussie accent, it's a pretty good basis for an S/J fic._


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